


Shredded Soul

by crazyfanperson



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Cute Yuya, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Yuya, Oblivious Yuzu, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, fruitshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21563392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyfanperson/pseuds/crazyfanperson
Summary: AU. Non-cannon. A new student at paradise prep has his eye on Zuzu. Just one thing stands in his way: Yuya. How far will he go to take Yuya out of the picture? Fruitshipping.
Relationships: Hiiragi Yuzu/OC, Hiiragi Yuzu/Sakaki Yuya
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. new moon

"Attention students." Yuya and Zuzu's teacher announced one morning. The two said duellists looked up to see someone they didn't recognise stood at the front of the classroom. It was a boy of around 14 with orange hair framing his face in perfect curls. He was quite tall and wearing the school's uniform. To tell the truth he looked like he could be a film star and all the girls in the room immediately began swooning over him. He just smiled confidently and acted like he hadn't noticed all the attention. "This class," The teacher continued. "Is Varsch Crescent, a new transfer student. I'd like it if you all welcomed him into our class."

"Hi." He greeted, even his voice was beautiful, it flowed silkily and in a perfect tenor. "It's so wonderful to meet all of you." He winked at the girls in the front row and they all squealed. Yuya and Zuzu had to cover their ears to blot out the annoying sound. They both scowled at the display, neither of them had any interest in this new student's good looks. However, it was because of this that Varsch had taken an interest in Zuzu. She was the only girl in the room not staring at him in awe and that intrigued him, for he had not up until this point met anyone who was able to resist his charms.

"Hello," He said, standing next to her desk and smiling down at her.

"Hi," She said, smiling also. Sure she thought this kid looked really stuck up and full of himself but she wasn't one to judge. "I'm Zuzu."

"Varsch."

"Hi." Yuya said, jumping into the conversation. "I'm Yuya."

"Nice to meet you." Said Varsch, pretending he wasn't irritated with Yuya for interrupting his chat to Zuzu.

"So where are you from?" Zuzu asked.

"A small village in China, it's quite nice there. My family had our main house there though we now have one in every country in the world."

"Oh, I see." Zuzu replied, sounding a bit disappointed. She was starting to think her theory about him being a snob was right.

"Wow, that's pretty cool." Said Yuya.

Varsch just ignored him and focused on Zuzu. "Is something wrong?" He asked, noticing her change in mood.

"Oh!" Zuzu flinched, surprised at the concern in his voice. "No, I'm good." She put on her best smile.

"That's great." He said, sitting in the chair next to her, which was also conveniently the one between her and Yuya. The latter beginning to feel a lot like a third wheel. "I was really nervous about my first day here, I'm glad to have made a friend." Varsch said sweetly to Zuzu. The young pink haired duellist smiled brightly, realising Varsch may not be so bad after all. Only a few minutes later the two of them were chatting together like they'd known each other for years.

Meanwhile, Yuya was beginning to have a bad feeling about this Varsch character. He'd blatantly ignored his attempts at conversation, sure he was talking with Zuzu but couldn't the three of them chat together? He sighed and looked out the window; perhaps he was being to harsh, he'd only just met the guy, he should at least get to know him before he judged him. Besides, it wasn't like Zuzu wasn't allowed to talk to people other than him, he just didn't like feeling left out.

When Zuzu started laughing at something Varsch had said to her, the boy in question turned around slightly and noticed Yuya looking out of the window almost sombrely. He couldn't help but smirk internally, from the moment Yuya had opened his mouth Varsch had disliked him. He sounded way to happy and carefree, it was so annoying. Of course he didn't plan on being mean to him, just avoid him hopefully. Which would make it harder to get closer to Zuzu, but don't let it be said he didn't enjoy a challenge.

"Varsch?" Said Zuzu, snapping him out of his thoughts. He laughed and turned back to her so they could continue their conversation. He was pleased Zuzu seemed comfortable around him, he figured it wouldn't be long before she fell for him like every girl ever has. He enjoyed it when they became smitten with him, he liked leading them on and then breaking their hearts. He took so much pleasure in breaking their hearts, and he couldn't wait to break Zuzu's.

Yuya and Zuzu were about to walk to You Show when they were approached by Varsch.

"Hey Zuzu," He greeted, casually moving in-between her and Yuya.

"Hey Varsch," She said, seeming to have not noticed the irritated look on Yuya's face.

"I was wondering if I could walk you home, I would very much like another opportunity to talk with you." Varsch said, in his most charming voice.

"Oh I'm not going home, me and Yuya are going to our duel school." She told him.

"Oh yea…" He said, suddenly looking interested.

"Yeah!" Yuya piped up. "It's called the You Show Duel School, and it's not exactly the most popular duel school around." He gave a quick nervous laugh. "But it's defiantly the best."

"I see," Said Varsch. "You know; I duel from time to time."

"Really!" Yuya exclaimed. "That's great, maybe you and I could duel sometime."

Varsch thought about this. A duel with Yuya… If he crushed Yuya in a duel Zuzu would defiantly fall for him. Plus, he'd get to destroy that annoying freak. He was confident he could defeat this kid; his attitude was that of an amateur duellist, while he himself had been one of the Chinese junior champions. Not that they needed to know that.

"I think a duel sounds great." He grinned, actually looking at Yuya for a change. "How about I come with you to your duel school and we duel there."

"Really!" Yuya cried, looking thrilled. "Great, come on."

Then without warning he grabbed Varsch's arm and dragged him along as he rushed to get to You Show.

"Hey wait up!" Zuzu cried, running to catch them up.

It took them less than five minutes to make it to the duel school, which Varsch was only too pleased about. He couldn't rip his arm from that annoying brat sooner. He found the more time he spent with Yuya, the more he hated him. He was so free spirited it made him want to throw up, and his enthusiasm annoyed him to no end. He would relish crushing him in this duel.

"Hey Yuya! Zuzu!"

The trio of young teens turned to see three children known as Ally, Fredrick and Tate.

"Hey guys." Yuya said, laughing happily.

"Hey, who's this?" Ally asked, looking up at Varsch.

"This is Varsch," Said Zuzu. "He just started at our school today."

"Oh cool." She giggled, and Varsch flashed her one of his best smiles.

"He and I are going to duel." Yuya announced.

"Really?!" Tate cried, "Awesome!"

"So where's your action field?" Varsch asked.

"I'll show you." Zuzu said, "follow me."

The group of duellists all trooped indoors. Once inside, Yuya showed Varsch to the main arena while Zuzu set up the arc system. The younger children all settled themselves in the observation area to watch the duel, keen to see what kind of duellist this new person was.

"Okay Zuzu, we're ready!" Yuya yelled, waving up at Zuzu at the control panel. She nodded and activated the action field spell. She selected the one entitled: shinning carnival. Instantly the entire room became a hoard of flashing lights and colours, until both Yuya and Varsch were surrounded by colourful tents and streamers. A sea of colourful shapes floated in the air, glowing brightly against the black of the scene.

"Interesting." Varsch observed, while Yuya was just getting psyched up for the duel.

"Okay then, shall we begin?" Varsch asked, but was quite taken aback when Yuya decided to jump onto one of the platforms around the field.

"Defiantly." Yuya said. "Ladies and gentlemen now presenting the duel of the century."

Everyone aside from Varsch rolled their eyes fondly, use to Yuya's overacting and excitement.

"I'll go first." Yuya said, drawing a card from his deck. "Now to kick things off, I summon my Whip snake.

**Performapal Whip Snake – ATK 1700**

"Then I'll place two cards face down and hand the spotlight to you for a bit."

Varsch drew his card without a word, looking very calm and serious.

"I summon Kung Fu master Shinikome in attack mode."

A humanoid female monster, with a blue Chinese dress and hair in a black bun, appeared on the field.

**Kung Fu Master Shinikome – ATK 1600**

"Next I activate the spell card cave of miracles,"

As soon as he'd activated the card his monster disappeared from the field.

"What the?" Yuya said, looking confused.

Varsch smirked as he explained, "This card stops you from attacking any of my monsters for three turns. Finally, I'll end my turn with a facedown."

Yuya was curious as to why he didn't summon a more powerful monster and attack him. Varsch's strategy was unclear to him, but he wouldn't let that affect his game.

"I now summon my Performapal Bowhopper."

**Performapal Bowhopper – ATK 1500**

"You might be able to protect your monsters, but you're wide open, so Bowhopper can attack you directly."

Performapal Bowhopper attacks Varsch

**Varsch Crescent LP 4000 – 2500**

"And now my Whip snake will also attack." Yuya announced.

"Not so fast, I activate a trap." Said Varsch. His facedown card flipped up to reveal the trap: Warrior's Cry.

"This allows me to sacrifice my Kung Fu master Shinikome to summon my Yin Warrior."

A bright glow erupted from his side of the field and when it died it revealed a female humanoid monster in a white gown with white skin and hair as well as a white staff with a black sphere on the end of it.

**Yin Warrior – ATK 2600**

"And thanks to her special ability anytime you try to attack me directly and she's on the field your monster has to attack her instead."

Yuya gasped as she sent out a bright flash from her staff and destroyed his attacking Whipsnake.

**Yuya Sakaki – LP 4000 – 3100**

"Wow, nice job." Yuya laughed. Varsch's face twisted in confusion. How could he be enjoying himself after having failed his attack? And even complimenting him, there was something wrong with this kid.

"My turn," Yuya announced. He drew his card and was pleased to see it was exactly the one he wanted. "I now activate, preformapal recasting." He slotted the card in his duel disk and it appeared on the field. "Now I can shuffle all the preformapal's in my hand into my deck and redraw, plus an extra card for good luck." He then placed three cards back in his deck and drew four new ones. "And now," Yuya announced showing his newly drawn Stargazer and Timegazer magicians, everyone aside from Varsch got excited, knowing he was about to pendulum summon. No matter how many times they saw it, it never failed to amaze them. "I use my scale 1 Stargazer and scale 8 Timegazer magician to set the pendulum scale." As per usual with pendulum summons, the two magicians appeared behind Yuya in beams of light as a huge pendulum began to swing between them. "Swing far pendulum, carve the arc of victory. My monsters are ready, to SWING INTO ACTION!" Yuya cried as the pendulum swung in a circle creating a vortex from which sprung his monsters. "Hop to it preformapal hip hippo. Flip to it preformapal lizardraw and turn up the heat odd-eyes pendulum dragon."

**Preformapal Hip Hippo – ATK 800**

**Preformapal Lizardraw – ATK 1200**

**Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon – ATK 2500**

Varsch just stared open-mouthed, what was this? He'd never seen anything like it before.

"So, what do you think of my pendulum summoning?" Yuya asked cheerily.

He just continued to stare, Yuya took this as a good sign. That he was too awe struck to talk.

"Well then," Yuya continued. "I now activate the spell card Wonder Balloons." The card in question flipped face up on Yuya's field. "Now I can send a card from my hand to the graveyard to place a counter on this card." He placed one of his cards in the graveyard and a counter appeared on the card. "I think I'll let you take a shot now."

Varsch snapped out of his daze in order to draw a new card. "I've never heard of this pendulum summoning you do but no matter, I'll beat you anyway." He looked at the cards in his hand and smirked, just the hand he needed.

"First I summon my Kung Fu Warrior Shin." A male humanoid monster in Chinese robes with a vail and sword appeared on the field.

**Kung Fu Warrior Shin ATK 1700**

"But he won't be sticking around for long." The new monster glowed slightly before bursting into little golden sparks. "Because I'm sacrificing him to summon my Yang Warrior." Another monster similar to the Yin Warrior appeared, except this monster had a black colour scheme and a white orb at the end of it's sceptre.

**Yang Warrior – ATK 2600**

"And now, I'm going to activate the spell card Polymerization."

Everyone gasped, so he knew how to fusion summon. The entire field glowed as his two monsters merged together into one.

"I fusion summon, Yin-Yang Sorcerer."

The entire field was bathed in white light, which faded to reveal a half black, half white humanoid with one angel wing, one bat wing, a Yin-Yang symbol painted across the face and long flowing silver hair.

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200**

"Thirty-two hundred attack points!" Yuya cried, staring wide-eyed in shock.

"That's right, and all of them aimed right at you." Varsch said. "Attack!"

His monster raised its staff preparing to attack.

"I activate my trap card." Yuya announced. "Command Performance, this card switches your monster into defense mode since I control a preformapal monster."

Varsch gritted his teeth in frustration as his sorcerer was switched into defense mode. All he'd had to do was attack that stupid Hippo of Yuya's and he would have severely damaged his life points.

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – DEF 2500**

"My turn, I draw." Yuya said, pulling a card from his deck. It was the only card in his hand but he slotted it straight in his graveyard to add a new counter to his Wonder Balloons card. "Now, watch and wonder people!" Yuya laughed, as he jumped from the platform he was stood on and landed on the head of his Odd-Eyes. He grabbed the horns of his dragon and the two took off. They flew around in the air for a bit as the audience watched in awe. Varsch stared with both irritation and confusion. Yuya showed off for a few more minutes until he leapt over to one of the tents and grabbed an action card. "Alright!" He yelled happily. "I activate the action spell strength bell (this is an action spell specific to my made up field, I've noticed all the fields have special spells). This spell not only powers up my Odd-Eyes by one thousand points, but it changes your monster back into attack mode."

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200**

**Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon – ATK 3500**

"But that's not all…" Yuya said slyly.

"What?" Varsch gasped.

"I now send my Wonder Balloons card to the graveyard to activate its effect."

Said card disappeared from the field, and Yuya's Odd-Eyes began to glow.

"Since it had two counters on it my dragon's attack points increase by two thousand."

"WHAT?!" Varsch cried.

"Oh and before I forget." Yuya said, sounding smug. "When your monster is level five or above the damage you take is doubled.

**Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon – ATK 5500**

"Attack!" Yuya ordered. A huge red orb glowed in Odd-Eyes' mouth then burst forth in a stream of energy, destroying Varsch's sorcerer. Varsch was blown off his feet as his lifepoints hit zero and the action field disappeared.

**Varsch Crescent - LP 2500 - 0**

"Yuya!" Ally, Fredrick and Tate yelled, running over to him and congratulating him on his win.

"Thanks." Yuya laughed.

"Nice duel." Zuzu said, appearing behind him, Yuya laughed and rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. He turned his head to look at Varsch, who was kneeling on the floor with his back to everyone, fuming over his loss. He couldn't believe he'd lost to such a fool of a duellist.

"Hey."

He looked up to see Yuya beside him offering his hand.

"That was a good duel, I had fun."

Varsch just stared at him, taking in his cheerful tone and goofy smile. This was the kid who'd defeated him, this happy, care-free, idiot. He took another look at his smile and knew right then he wanted more than anything to wipe it off his face. He liked breaking people, and right now there was no one he wanted to break more than Yuya Sakaki. So that was that. From that moment, he made it his mission to have revenge on the fun loving clown, he'd break his spirit if it was the last thing he did.


	2. new friends

"Good morning." Zuzu greeted Varsch as she took her seat next to him in class.

"Could you leave us alone for a while?" Varsch asked all the girls crowded round him. They all moaned and whined and sent jealous glares at Zuzu but left anyway. Varsch let out a long sigh once they were all gone. "I wish someone'd like me for myself instead of my looks." He sighed again. "No one ever seems to want to get to know me."

"I do." Zuzu said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Really?" He said, looking up at her in surprise. Zuzu smiled warmly and nodded at him. Varsch smiled back, shyly. Whilst inside he was praising himself on such brilliant acting, he couldn't believe how easy it was to fool this girl. Though on the other hand, anyone who was friends with a clown like Yuya had to be pretty near sighted.

"Hey!"

Speak of the devil, Yuya himself walked up to the two of them and took his seat next to Varsch. Of course he was in a different row of desks so he was a bit further away than the two of them, which Varsch was particularly happy about. However today, he wanted to get as close to Yuya as possible.

"Hi Yuya, I wanted to say I had a fun time yesterday, maybe we could duel again sometime." He said, giving his best smile. And of course Yuya was completely fooled by it.

"I'd love to duel anytime," He laughed. "You're a strong duellist."

"As are you, your pendulum summoning was like nothing I've ever seen before."

"It took Yuya a while to master pendulum summoning, but now it's like his best move." Zuzu said.

The three of them spent the rest of their time discussing pendulum summoning until the teacher entered and began class.

When class finally let out the three of them decided to sit together for lunch. And Zuzu found that she was the one left out this time. Varsch was determined to find out as much about Yuya as he could, and then use it to tear him down. He'd wipe that proud, happy, stupid smile off his face if it was the last thing he did.

"So do you two have any other friends besides me and the kids at your school?" Varsch asked, as they finished off their lunch.

"Yuya…" Zuzu moaned embarrassedly as Yuya continued to scarf down his lunch like a pig, something else that disgusted Varsch, not that he would say so. "Huh…" Zuzu sighed in exasperation. She then turned her attention to Varsch in order to answer his question. "Well not really, there's our friend Gong but he's gone on a trip overseas for a bit, and also Sora but I haven't seen him around for a while." She placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah…" Yuya said, pausing momentarily in his gorging. "He hasn't even been coming to my house for breakfast… Ah! That's just this weird thing he does!" Yuya exclaimed, noticing how confused Varsch looked by the fact that Sora came over to his house for meals all the time.

"I see." Varsch nodded. "Speaking of food, doesn't it embarrass you that you eat so messily, it's disgusting. No offense."

"Tell me about it." Zuzu groaned. Yuya looked slightly offended but brushed it off with an eye roll.

"No, who cares what other people think."

"So you don't mind how people see you?"

"Well…" Yuya paused, thinking. "I don't want people to see me as a bad person, but I don't mind that they laugh at me now and then, if they're laughing they're happy right?"

"I see…" Varsch mused.

The rest of the day passed normally, Varsch and Zuzu did their work while Yuya slept and got woken by an unwelcome bash on the head from Zuzu's fan. Varsch bid farewell to the two of them at the school gates, deciding to go home today. He was halfway there when he noticed several boys from his school hanging out by the river. He paused and observed them for a few minutes until they eventually noticed they were being watched.

"What are you looking at?!" One of them snapped.

"Isn't he that new kid?" Another whispered. "The one that's friends with Zuzu and that loser Yuya."

Varsch suddenly grew interested when he heard the word loser.

"You guys don't like Yuya?" He asked, voice devoid of all emotion. The group burst out laughing, as if that was the most ridiculous suggestion ever.

"Like him?!"

"You're kidding right?!"

"Who could?" One of them asked when their laughter had died down. "He's cocky, annoying, loud, clumsy." He began endlessly listing things he hated about Yuya.

"We can't see why you want to be friends with him." Someone else said.

"I'm not," Varsch replied, causing them all to grown confused. "At least not really," He elaborated. "Since the moment I met him he's been getting on my nerves, I'm only pretending to be his friend to get close to him, so I can find out his weaknesses and finally wipe that annoying smile off his face."

The group of students took a few minutes to process this new information, they then had a hushed conversation together. Varsch just watched, wondering where this was going. When they finally turned to face him again they all had cruel smirks plastered on their faces.

"You wouldn't need any help would you?" The apparent leader of the group asked. Varsch was taken aback by the question, he'd never had anyone help him break people before. Though perhaps it a bit of help would be of use. He smirked also and shook hands with the guy who'd offered.

"It's a deal,"

"Awesome." The leader smirked, "My name's Nathan by the way."

"And I'm Devin." One of the others said.

"I'm Carter."

"And I'm Robin."

Varsch nodded to each of them. "My name is Varsch." He introduced.

The five of them shook hands, officially sealing their alliance. To take down Yuya Sakaki. Once and for all.


	3. new plan

"Okay!" Varsch cried, getting the rest of the small group's attention, "I've drawn up a plan for us to destroy Yuya." He gestured to the board next to him with a stick. He'd invited his new "friends" over to his house so they could discuss their plans to break Yuya's spirit. The five of them were currently sat in his basement looking at the plan Varsch had created.

"Okay so explain it to us." Said Devin.

"It's simple." Varsch said. "To break someone's spirit you have to hurt them three different ways, there are three ways to hurt someone and on their own they do hurt quite a bit, but together they completely shatter someone." Varsch's face contorted into an evil grin. "The first way we have to hurt him, is socially."

"Socially?" Devin questioned.

"Yes." Varsch replied. "Once we get to the point when we really start to break this guy, he mustn't have any friends or anyone to comfort him, so we need to turn everyone against him. Which should leave him sad and lonely."

Everyone smirked at the prospect.

"Next." Varsch continued. "We break him personally, meaning we destroy everything he loves until his soul is broken."

The others nodded, liking this plan more and more by the second.

"And finally, we hurt him physically. That should be the easiest part." Varsch smirked before cutting himself off with a bout of cruel laughter. Slowly all the others joined in until the sound of evil cackling could be heard throughout the entire house.


	4. new information

It was Friday. Time to initiate stage 1 of the plan. Since some of Yuya's friends were away and some didn't go to their school he only had Zuzu and, as far as he knew, Varsch to hang out with, so it shouldn't be too hard to turn Yuya's friends on him. However, first thing's first, they had to make certain no one else would want to be Yuya's friend once he was alone. And to do that Varsch would need to dig up some dirt on him. There had to be something he could use to his advantage.

"Hey."

Varsch snapped out of his thoughts as Zuzu sat down next to him.

"Oh hi, how's it going?"

"Fine, did you finish last night's homework?"

The two of them spent the next few minutes discussing small things, nothing really important. Then just after the bell rang, Yuya came dashing through the door. He appologised to the teacher, who simply rolled his eyes, unconcerned.

"Did you oversleep again?" Zuzu groaned. Varsch was certain to note the frustration in her voice, he could definitely use that.

"Yeah." Yuya laughed sheepishly, placing a hand behind his head. "So anyway." He said as he sat down. "I was wondering if you two wanted to stay over tonight, my mom was really wanting to meet you." He said to Varsch.

"Sure I'd love to." Said Zuzu with a cheerful smile.

"Why not?" Varsch shrugged.

"Great!" Yuya exclaimed happily.

The rest of the day went on as normal and the three of them met up after school to walk over to Yuya's house together. Varsch wasn't exactly looking forward to this little sleepover, however, he saw it as a perfect opportunity to find out more about Yuya. Hopefully information he could use against him.

When they got to Yuya's house, they went straight to his kitchen where his mother was cooking. Varsch didn't think much of Yuya's house, it was tiny in comparison to his and no where near as well furnished. But he smiled and complimented it whilst in the presence of the others.

"Hello Zuzu, lovely to see you." Yoko said, smiling at the young girl. Zuzu smiled back and said it was good to see her to. "And you must be Varsch." Yoko said, turning to him.

"Correct, it's such a pleasure to meet you." Varsch said, some of his natural charm slipping through. He took Yoko's hand and gave it a quick kiss, then turned to Yuya. "Why Yuya, you never told me you had such a beautiful sister."

Yoko blushed at his compliments and started fussing over his awkwardly in the way most girls do. Zuzu giggled at Yoko's enthusiasm, while by contrast, Yuya was looking for a lever that could open a trapdoor in the floor, he was so embarrassed.

"So anyway." Yoko said, finally calming down. "Why don't you guys hang out in Yuya's room while I make dinner."

"Sure mom." Yuya said, pleased she wasn't embarrassing him anymore. "Come on." He gestured for the others to follow. The three of them trooped upstairs behind Yuya and into his room. It wasn't anything special, at least to Varsch, there was a bed, and a desk with a few pieces of paper and some pens, a chair and table, and a poster on the wall. The man on the poster had some similarities to Yuya, Varsch began to wonder if the two were related in some way.

"So what do you guys want to do first?" Yuya asked. Zuzu said something to him but Varsch wasn't listening, he was too busy looking at the poster, trying to figure out who it was.

"Varsch?"

A hand suddenly shot out in front of his face, alerting him to Zuzu's attempt at talking to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering who he is." Varsch said, pointing at the poster, "I've never seen him before."

"Oh, that's my dad," Yuya said, sounding really proud all of a sudden. "He's the greatest entertainment duelist ever, and someday I'm going to be as good as him."

"Yuya!" Yoko yelled from downstairs. "Can you come here for a minute."

"I'll be right back." Yuya said as he left the room. As soon as he was gone Zuzu turned to Varsch looking very serious.

"Listen Varsch, Yuya's father kind of, disappeared a few years ago and he's kind of sensitive about it. Just thought I should warn you."

"Oh really, that's awful." Said Varsch, feigning sympathy. He went and sat next to Zuzu on the bed. "What happened?"

"Well…" Zuzu wasn't sure if she should say anymore, it wasn't really her place to tell. But on the other hand, someone had to warn Varsch so that he wouldn't accidentally bring it up without realising. So in the end of her mental battle the side that told her to tell won out and she told Varsch all about how Yuya's father disappeared on the day he was going to fight the sledgehammer and how people thought he was a coward and use to bully Yuya about it, so he started distracting everyone by clowning around and using it as a way to cope with losing his father. Varsch listened intently, but not for the reasons Zuzu hoped. She was hoping he would listen and be careful not to mention anything that might upset Yuya, when really he was listening and _planning_ to upset Yuya. He wasn't sure how yet but he was certain this new information would come in handy with his plans.

Zuzu finished her story just as Yuya came back, he told them his mom had finished making dinner and they could all come down and eat now.

**_Time skip…_ **

"Wow, your mom sure can cook." Varsch said as the three of them returned to Yuya's room. They'd eaten and gotten changed by this time and were each sat on their sleeping bags.

"Yea." Said Yuya. "So what should we do now?"

"Uh. Share stuff?" Varsch suggested, praying they would say yes, he needed to find out more about Yuya.

"Share stuff?" Yuya said, looking perplexed.

"Yea um… Well that's what I'd heard friends did at sleepovers." Varsch muttered, pretending to be embarrassed. "But see I've never been to a sleepover before so…"

"Woah wait." Zuzu interrupted. "You've never slept over at someone else's house before?!"

"Um… Well I didn't have many friends in my old village, and they all thought sleepover's were too girly." Varsch explained. Zuzu and Yuya both looked at him sympathetically.

"Well we don't really care what other people think, so let them think this is girly if they want, it doesn't matter." Said Yuya.

"So there's really nothing that bothers you?" Varsch asked.

"Well I… I don't like when others mess with my friends, or anyone really. And I hate it when people duel selfishly, dueling should be about having fun and making people smile." Yuya replied.

"Interesting…" Varsch muttered.

"Okay your turn." Said Zuzu, pointing at Varsch.

"Huh?"

"Well you said you wanted to share stuff." She smirked, making Varsch slightly nervous. "I would like to know more about your life in China."

"Oh," Varsch sighed, pleased she asked a question he could work his way around. "Well as I said I lived in a small village, though my family owned an incredibly large mansion on the outskirts, cause my father's incredibly wealthy. I often felt like the other kids in the village only wanted to hang out with me for my family's cool stuff."

"Oh I'm so sorry to hear that." Said Zuzu, while she and Yuya both looked at him with pity. Little did they know, Varsch had enjoyed every second of people using him for his stuff, for the thrill of breaking their hearts was always worth it.

"Okay! My go." Yuya cried. "Zuzu, tell me something you hate."

"Hm…" Zuzu thought about it for a moment. "I guess I also hate it when my friends are in danger." She paused for a moment then added, "Also uncool music."

Yuya burst out laughing at her last comment, and eventually the others joined in. Though not for the same reasons.

"Okay so it's my turn again." Varsch said. "Tell me Yuya, do you have any secrets you've never told anyone?"

"Um." Yuya suddenly backed up a bit looking nervous. This caused Varsch and Zuzu to both acquire evil smirks.

"Come on Yuya." Varsch said evilly.

"Tell us…" Zuzu added.

Yuya whimpered nervously for a bit before sighing and giving in. "Okay I'll tell you but please don't laugh. I went to this camp one summer when I was kid and they put on this performance at the end for all our parents and friends, and when it was my turn I was really nervous…" Yuya paused momentarily, not wanting to reveal anymore, but when he looked at Zuzu and Varsch's evil faces he knew he wouldn't get out of this. "I was so nervous that I threw up on stage." Zuzu gasped. "And then when I tried to run I slipped on my sick and fell backwards into it." He lowered his head, remembering how embarrassed he'd been. "When I left the next day I swore I'd never speak of it again."

There was silence for a few moments before Zuzu and Varsch both fell over laughing their guts out.

"Stop it!" Yuya cried, blushing a deep crimson.

"Oh sorry Yuya but it's just so funny." Zuzu choked out, still overcome with laughter.

"Yeah, you don't have it on video by any chance?" Varsch asked, secretly hoping he did.

"No!" Yuya denied, however the look in his eyes told Varsch he was obviously lying, he smirked inwardly, knowing this was defiantly something he could use to his advantage.

"Okay, okay, your turn Yuya…" Zuzu said.

The three of them continued with their unusual game for a while and Varsch was pleased to find out so much about Yuya, he promised to keep it a secret, but of course, had no intention of keeping that promise.

After a while both Zuzu and Yuya fell asleep, giving Varsch the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He quickly went over to Yuya's desk and began rifling through the drawers, looking for anything he could use in his plan. He quickly and quietly searched the entire room but came up totally empty. He was on the verge of giving up when he noticed something on the floor under the desk. He bent down to pick up the item and, on further investigation, found it to be a book. He opened it and on the first page was written the words: The journal of Yuya Sakaki. Varsch stared at it for a moment, before his face twisted into the largest smirk he'd ever had. He quickly shoved the book into his bag and snuck out of the room while the others slept. He made his way along the hall till he came to a room with a large computer. He sat down and logged on, ready to prepare the next stage of his plan…


	5. new levels

As Varsch sat in his seat on Monday morning, it took all the strength in his body to keep a straight face. He was bursting with excitement at the thought of the little surprise he'd set up for Yuya. For as soon as he'd gotten home on Saturday morning, he'd called the rest of his new group over to plan a little "treat" for Yuya using the stuff he'd collected at his house. He had to bite down his laughter every time he thought of it.

"Morning," Zuzu greeted as she took her seat beside him, Yuya took his seat by the window and smiled at them both. Varsch smiled back, growing more and more excited. Yuya opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off by the school bell.

"Okay everyone, if you could turn your attention to the board." The teacher said, switching on his laptop. As soon as he did so, a video popped up on the screen. "What the?!" The teacher cried. Everyone looked really confused as the image of a large stage had taken over the screen. All except Yuya, who'd turned very pale.

 _No…_ He thought. _It can't be…_

Unfortunately, it was, as proved by the younger looking Yuya who walked onto the stage. Everyone in the room immediately recognised the little tomato headed child with golden googles. They all began to wonder if this meant Yuya was behind this or if someone was playing a joke on him. They decided it was probably the latter. They continued to watch as the Yuya on screen started looking really nervous, almost like he was going to throw up. It was at this point that Zuzu realised what was going on, this was the story Yuya had told her and Varsch. But how? Who could have done this? Only she, Yuya and Varsch knew. But when she looked at Varsch he looked just as concerned as her, and Yuya looked like he was going to have a meltdown. He'd pulled his goggles onto his eyes and was visibly shaking. He couldn't help it; he knew what was coming next.

 _No._ He thought. _Not this, anything but this._

And just as Yuya had said, the Yuya on screen threw up and then slipped and fell over. The entire class couldn't help but burst out laughing, he looked so ridiculous covered in sick. The only people not laughing were Varsch, Zuzu and Yuya. Varsch wanted to laugh more than anything but he managed to keep up his act of concern so as not to look suspicious. Zuzu was wondering how everyone could laugh when Yuya was clearly upset. The Yuya in the video looked insanely embarrassed. And when she looked over to where the present Yuya was, he wasn't there! At first she was confused before she caught sight of him cowering under his desk, too ashamed to come out. Zuzu moved to comfort him, since he was clearly distressed, but he got up and bolted towards the door before she got the chance. And as luck would have it, Yuya tripped over a desk on his mad dash to get away and went sprawling on the floor. The laughter in the room increased as Yuya hurriedly scrambled to the door and rushed out of the room. Zuzu watched him leave feeling a mix of pity and anger. She was sorry Yuya had been embarrassed like that, and angry at whoever had done this, as well as the rest of the class for laughing at her friend's expense. Meanwhile, Varsch watched Yuya leave with an almost invisible smirk on his face.

 _You think this is bad?_ He thought. _Just wait Yuya. I haven't even begun to make you suffer yet…_


	6. new hope

"Any sign?" Zuzu asked as she and Varsch met up in the courtyard. They'd been looking for Yuya all through the lunch period but so far they hadn't found him.

"No, nothing."

"Poor guy." Zuzu sighed, biting her lip with worry. "He must have been so humiliated."

"I thought he didn't mind if people laughed at him." Said Varsch, pretending to care.

"Sort of," Zuzu said. "I guess… he doesn't mind if people laugh at what he _does_ , but he doesn't like people laughing at _him_."

"I see," Varsch murmured, already coming up with ways to use this against Yuya. He looked up from his thoughts for a second and noticed his little gang, behind the building across from him, trying to get his attention. "I'll go search over here again." He told Zuzu, running over to them.

"Okay," She replied, running the other way.

As soon as Varsch got himself out of sight with the others he finally let loose all the laughter he'd been holding back.

"That was brilliant guys." He praised, "He was horrified."

"Not surprising," Nathan said. "He's such a crybaby."

"Well we'll give him plenty to cry about." Varsch said. "This doesn't even come close to the kind of damage we can inflict on him."

They all broke out in evil laughter again.

_**Meanwhile…** _

"Yuya?!" Zuzu cried, as she walked down yet another corridor. She couldn't find him anywhere, though of course he didn't want to be found so naturally it would be hard. "Yuya! Come on."

"Man I knew Yuya was a clown but I didn't know he was this much of a fool." Someone said as she passed them. She scowled angrily at the group who laughed at the remark and continued trying to locate her friend. As she was walking down the main hallway for the fifth time she realised there was one place she hadn't tried yet…

Zuzu pulled the door to the roof open and stepped into the cool afternoon air. And when she turned around she was pleased to see Yuya sitting on the edge of the building just as she'd hoped.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked, sitting down next to him. He flinched a bit at her unexpected presence but didn't say anything. Just kept sitting in silence with his goggles over his eyes and small frown on his face. "Look I know it was pretty embarrassing but it could be worse." Zuzu said, in an effort to comfort him.

"I know."

"You may think this is—Wait what?!"

"I know what happened wasn't so bad." He sighed, and placed his goggles back on the top of his head. Zuzu noticed his eyes were redder than usual and looked awfully hollow. "That's not what I'm upset about."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm okay with people laughing at me, when they're laughing at me because I'm acting like a fool, but now everyone's laughing at me because I am a fool."

He hung his head sadly.

"Don't think like that." Zuzu said, placing her hand on his arm soothingly. Yuya was surprised at the sudden and gentle contact and had to turn away to hide the blush on his cheeks. "Yuya, you're not a fool, or a loser or whatever else people say. You're a great duellist and a great friend, don't let this get you down."

"Yeah, you're right." Yuya cried, jumping to his feet. "I can't get down; I've just got to laugh it off just like my dad taught me."

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Said Zuzu, jumping up next to him. She almost lost her balance but luckily Yuya caught her and pulled her back onto the roof. The two of them fell over into a heap, laughing happily.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two friends, they were being observed by the one claiming to be their friend. Who was not happy that Zuzu had been able to make Yuya feel better, she'd have to go. And he had the perfect plan to tear them apart.


	7. new pain

The rest of the week passed normally, Varsch pretended to know nothing about the video thing and acted all concern for his "friend." Yuya got over it with a few laughs and ignored all the people teasing him. Whilst the rest of Varsch's gang planned more ways they could make Yuya look bad. Making the entire school lose any respect they had for Yuya was the first stage of their plan and right now it was going pretty well. In order to help with this, Varsch had been reading his journal everyday. He'd discovered many secrets about Yuya that could be of use; also that he was hurt more by the other kids' teasing than he let on; that he was deeply upset about losing his father; and probably the most useful, that he had a crush on Zuzu. Varsch had already planned to make Zuzu fall for him so he could break her heart, and if Yuya saw them together it would crush him. This way he could kill two birds with one stone. So when he got to school on Monday he put into effect his plan to split the two apart. He waited at the school gates for Yuya after Zuzu had already gone inside so as to have some time alone with him.

"Oh morning Varsch." Yuya said, appearing beside him.

"Morning Yuya, I was actually waiting for you."

"Really why?"

"I wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"Zuzu."

"Zuzu? What about Zuzu?"

"Well…" Varsch pretended to sigh, he knew he had to act perfectly here. "I've never met anyone quite like her before."

"Zuzu's the best." Yuya agreed.

Varsch nodded and then continued. "I think I like her, you know as more than a friend."

Yuya's expression dropped immediately, and for a second he looked slightly worried but he quickly covered it up. "Yeah?" He replied, unable to stop his voice from shaking ever so slightly.

"Mm, I want to ask her out but I'm not sure how." Varsch said. "You know her really well, what do you think she'd like?"

"Oh um…" Yuya stuttered. He didn't know what to do, Varsch was his friend and he wanted to help him, but he really liked Zuzu himself and the thought of her with someone else really hurt. However, when he thought it through it was Zuzu's choice who she went out with and since he hadn't the courage to tell her how he felt, he shouldn't be upset with those that did. As long as Zuzu was happy. That was what he was all about after all, making people happy. "Zuzu likes music, duelling, ice-cream, dancing, all sort of things really."

"Interesting." Varsch said. "Thanks Yuya, you're a good friend." He gave Yuya a hug, pretending he was grateful. "Now that I think about it. You've been her friend for a long time, what do you think of her?"

"She's…" Yuya stopped suddenly, he wasn't really sure what to say. There was a lot he could think of, but nothing that wouldn't make himself sound stupid…

"She's amazing." He said finally. "Ever since I can remember Zuzu's been there, laughing with me, crying, shouting, playing, singing, dancing. She always stood by me and has been my friend even after my father disappeared, I think what I like most about Zuzu is that she likes the real me." Varsch just stared at Yuya as he unkowningly poured his heart out. He hadn't realised it but all of Varsch's questions had been a trap to get him to reveal his true feelings. A trap that he'd fallen into perfectly. Yuya kept telling him everything he loved about his long-time friend as they walked to their classroom. Of course he stopped when they got inside and it was only then that he realised what he'd been saying, however Varsch pretended to be oblivious, so Yuya figured he had nothing to worry about.

The rest of class went by normally and the three friends went to lunch like usual, except Varsch told the others he had to go do some extra work for a bit. Yuya and Zuzu just shrugged and said they see him later. So Varsch was free to go meet up with the rest of his little gang to discuss the next part of their plan.

"Oh hey Varsch." Devin said, when he got there.

"Hey." He replied.

"What brings you here?" Nathan asked.

"I need you to do something for me tonight." He said, as he began to smirk evilly.

**_Time skip…_ **

It was the end of the day and Zuzu, Yuya and Varsch were all at the school gates.

"No duel school today I'm afraid." Zuzu told Yuya, meaning they'd all have to go home, so the three of them said their farewells and parted ways. Although Varsch didn't plan on going straight home.

Yuya walked along the riverbank on the way back to his house just as he always did, when he suddenly noticed a group of boys in his grade sitting on a bench at the side of the path. He was wondering why they were all looking at him. As he passed, he prayed he was just imagining things and they would just ignore him. Unfortunately they had other ideas.

"Hey clown boy!" One of them cried. Yuya stopped, he didn't pay any mind to the name they called him, he'd heard it before many times.

"Yes?" He asked. He turned around and realised the four of them were advancing on him. "What do you want?"

His reply was a swift kick to the back of his legs, knocking him to the ground. He cried out in pain and two of the boys grabbed him and dragged him into an alley between two shops across the street. Sadly, it was still fairly early and there weren't many people about so no one noticed them. Aside from one person, who wasn't going to be much help. In fact the young orange-haired Chinese boy was looking forward to seeing his friends hurt the stupid kid. While he watched from behind some bins at the other end of the alley where Yuya wouldn't see him. He smiled broadly as Nathan punched Yuya in the stomach causing him to double over.

"Hey!" Yuya yelled when he got his breath back. "What was that for."

"Oh it's quite simple really." Robin said. "We don't like you."

"Yeah." Said Carter, taking Yuya's chin in his hand and forcing their eyes to meet. "Plus you're a worthless, pathetic loser, and its time you learnt that."

"And we're going to teach you." Devin finished, cracking his knuckles and taking another swing. Yuya threw his hands up in front of his face in a weak attempt to defend himself as an onslaught of attacks hit all over his body. He tried his hardest to keep his mouth shut throughout the beating but every now and then a cry or pained whimper escaped his lips. The four bullies went into an uproar every time this happened making Yuya feel even angrier than he already did.

"Why are you doing this! I hate you! I didn't do anything to you!" He screamed.

"You didn't have to." Nathan said, punching him in the face again, sending him flying back into the wall. He clutched his nose, suddenly feeling ill as he felt something thick and wet trickle onto his fingers. "Being around you was enough." Nathan continued. "You're just so annoying, the way you always make such a fool of yourself and act like you don't care."

"Yeah." Said Robin. "Any normal person would be upset when people are always laughing at them but you seem to enjoy it. It's not natural and it's weird."

Yuya just stared at them, unsure of how to respond. Eventually they got bored of waiting and started to punch and kick him again. One kick to his legs caused his deck to fly out of his pocket and scatter on the floor.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Carter said with a smirk as he bent down to scoop up some of the cards.

"My cards!" Yuya cried. The four bullies began examining the contents of his deck while Yuya tried to get back onto his feet.

"You call these cards?" Nathan taunted. "They're pathetic." He tossed them onto the floor and stamped on them, rubbing them into the pavement with his foot. The others all proceeded to do the same, laughing cruelly as they did.

"No!" Yuya cried rushing at Nathan, effectively knocking him down. The others responded by grabbing him and holding him still whilst Nathan got up and brushed himself off. "I hate you." Yuya spat with a venom in his tone none of them realised he even had. "How dare you treat cards like that, you're sick and horrible and I hate you!"

Yuya panted heavily after his rant, already worn out from the beating. Nathan simply laughed at what he said and took hold of him by his collar. He pressed Yuya up against the wall and leaned in so close Yuya could feel his breath on his face. He grimaced at how awful it smelt.

"You're just as worthless as your cards and one day soon you're going to realise that."

With that said, Nathan gave Yuya one last punch to the gut and dropped him. He lay flattened against the cold concrete of the ground with his cards scattered around him. The group of bullies just laughed and took off, passing Varsch on the way. Said person getting up from his hiding place and running after them, leaving Yuya alone, beaten and angry.


	8. new tricks

It was several minutes before Yuya had the strength to get up and start gathering his cards.

"Don't listen to them." He said to them as he dusted them off. "You're the best cards ever. Those jerks didn't know what they were talking about." He smiled sadly and shoved his reassembled deck back in his pocket. He tried to walk home but found he could only reach the edge of the alleyway before he slumped against the wall in pain. He was bruised everywhere and had a lot of ugly blood stains. He moaned in pain as he shoved himself upright again and began the long trudge home.

Meanwhile, Varsch, Robin, Carter and Devin were all a good distance away in a local park, laughing as they replayed what happened in their minds.

"So did you get what you needed?" Devin asked Varsch. He smirked and waved a tape recorder at them in triumph. They all burst into cheers and slapped each other on the back, revelling in their victory. "Do you have the rest of what we need?" Varsch asked. Nathan nodded and the five of them shared smirks with each other. "Excellent, tomorrow we'll start the next stage of the plan."

"Yuya?" Yoko called as she heard the door click. "Why are you home so late?"

"Sorry, I had to stay behind at school to catch up on some homework." Yuya lied.

"Oh Yuya." Yoko sighed, turning her attention back to her cooking. Yuya quickly made his way up the stairs while she was distracted. He didn't want his mom to worry, or get involved so he didn't tell her what had happened. Besides, hopefully this was just a one-time thing, and now that those jerks had, had their fun they'd leave him alone. He staggered into the bathroom and got out the first-aid kit to try and treat his wounds. They hissed angrily in protest but he kept going with only a few grimaces of pain. As he fixed himself up he kept having flashbacks to what had occurred. He'd been beaten up before, he could handle that. But they disrespected his deck. His blood boiled with rage every time he thought of it. People insulting him he could handle, but he drew the line at his friends or his cards. He sighed heavily as he finished cleaning the last of his cuts. He splashed some cold water on his face and looked himself over in the mirror. He was pleased to see there were no signs of his injuries.

"Yuya!" He heard his mother yell. "Dinner!"

"Coming." He replied rushing downstairs.

_**Time skip…** _

Yuya was laying on his bed contemplating the week's events. First of all, one of his most humiliating incidents had been broadcast to his entire class. And, as he'd later found out, uploaded to the internet so the whole school could see. And now he'd been ambushed and beaten up on his way home from school. He couldn't help but think there must be a connection. Whoever these people were they wanted to hurt him. But the question was why?

Unfortunately, there was no way he could figure that out. As he didn't yet know who the leader of the group was. Or that it was a supposed friend of his.

Speaking of that supposed friend, he was right now cutting together a tape from the recording he'd taken in the alley for the next stage of his plan.

_**Time skip…** _

"Good morning." Zuzu said as she sat down next Varsch the next morning.

"Same to you." Yuya replied.

"How are things?" Varsch asked, directing the question at both of them.

"Fine." Zuzu smiled.

"Yeah great." Said Yuya, sounding genuinely happy.

 _He's either gotten over last night already, or he's very good at covering it up._ Varsch thought. In actual fact it was both, Yuya was great at covering any sort of pain with happiness, and had become so use to it he wasn't so bothered by it anymore.

"Attention class…" Their teacher said, forcing the three of them to divert their attention.

_**Time skip…** _

By the time lunch rolled around Yuya was starving and practically dragged Zuzu out of school so they could find a place to sit and eat their lunch.

"Hey slow down." She cried, pulling her arm away and giving him a light punch. She hadn't hit too hard, it was only playful, so she was quite surprised when Yuya cringed in pain and clutched his arm. "What is it?" She asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing I'm fine." He said with a laugh. Zuzu looked like she didn't really believe him. "Anyway I just remembered I have somewhere I have to be this lunch, see ya later." And with that he took off, ignoring Zuzu's cries for him to stop. He couldn't risk her asking awkward questions that might force him to reveal what happened last night. He didn't understand what was going on but he didn't want his friends involved in it.

"That was weird." Zuzu said aloud to herself. _I wonder what's up._ She thought. She decided to confront him about it at You Show tonight, for now she would find somewhere to sit and eat her lunch.

Yuya, in the meantime, had just ran up three flights of stairs and was stood in one of the school's corridors, panting heavily.

"Well, well, look who it is." A, sickeningly familiar, voice said. Yuya spun round and found himself face to face with three of the four jerks from yesterday. He let out a small cry of worry, then mentally kicked himself for showing weakness like that. It didn't go unnoticed by the gang of bullies.

"How are you feeling?" Devin asked.

"Recovering okay?" Asked Carter eliciting snickers from the rest of the group. Yuya growled angrily under his breath. Then realised this was the perfect opportunity to teach them a lesson.

"You all disrespected my cards," He said. "I won't let you get away with that. Let's duel."

The four bullies all looked at each other incredulously, then burst out laughing.

"You're serious?!" Devin asked.

"Yes!" Yuya snapped. "I can't let you get away with mistreating my deck, or anyone's deck for that matter so duel me right now."

"Alright then, fine." Nathan said with a smirk. The five of them all activated their duel disks…

Elsewhere, Zuzu had just finished her lunch and was wondering where both Yuya and Varsch were. She decided to go for a walk to find them. She wandered around the courtyard for a bit but couldn't see them. She was about to give up and go get ready for class, when she distinctly heard the sound of Yuya's voice.

"I hate you!" She heard him yell. It made her curious as to who he could be talking to, and when she peaked around the corner she'd heard his voice come from, she was stunned to see it was Varsch.

"But Yuya, I thought we were friends." Varsch said, sounding desperate.

"Friends!" Yuya cried, "Why would I want to be friends with you, you were just using me to get close to Zuzu."

Zuzu gasped when she heard that.

"That's not true." Varsch practically pleaded. "I am your friend I swear."

"I don't care, you're sick and horrible and I hate you!"

"How can you say that?!"

"I know you were just using me."

"I wasn't—"

Varsch was cut off by Yuya slapping him across the face, causing him to reel back clutching his cheek. Zuzu cried out, her hand flying up to her mouth.

"Don't lie!" Yuya yelled, then took off. Zuzu watched him leave wondering how he could have done such a horrible thing. It wasn't like Yuya at all… Her thoughts were interrupted by groans of pain from her other friend.

"Varsch!" She cried, rushing over to him.

"Zuzu?" He said, like he couldn't believe she was there.

"Are you okay?" She asked, cupping his face so she could examine his cheek. It was beginning to bruise but it didn't look too serious.

"How much did you see?" He asked, shifting his gaze to the floor.

"A lot." She muttered sadly. Varsch sighed and pulled away from her grasp. He walked over to the school building and sat down against the wall. Zuzu went and sat next to him.

"Why was Yuya so upset with you?" She asked.

"Well," Varsch started, then looked like he didn't want to carry on but Zuzu gave him a look that clearly said he couldn't avoid this. "Okay I like you."

"What?"

"I really like you Zuzu, so I told Yuya I was going to ask you out and he got mad saying he didn't want one of his "best friends" spending more time with me than with him. Then he started accusing me of just pretending to be friends with him to get close to you."

Zuzu couldn't believe what she was hearing. But she had just heard Yuya say stuff about being used, how could he think that.

"I think he's jealous." Varsch said. "I think he reckons if we went out he'd become a third wheel or something."

"What?! I would never do that!" Zuzu cried, then saw how hurt Varsch looked. "No, I didn't mean I would never go out with you, I mean I would never treat Yuya that way."

"Thanks." Varsch said with a mix of sarcasm and amusment. They both laughed softly.

"I can't help but like you Zuzu." He continued, he raised his head upwards to stare at the sky. Zuzu just watched him, mesmerised, as he began to pour his heart out to her. What she didn't know was that everything he said about her were things he'd heard Yuya say, and they made her heart melt. Varsch turned to face her as he spoke but just tailed off as he looked into her eyes, they were just inches from each other. Before either of them realised it, they'd leaned in and connected their lips. To Varsch this came naturally, as he'd kissed so many girls before, he knew exactly how to make it seem like the most magical kiss in the world. And Zuzu melted into it just as he knew she would.

"Zuzu?" He said when they pulled apart.

"Yes?" She muttered, still dazed.

"I know I could have picked a better moment." He began, taking both her hands in his. "But would you like to go out with me?"

"I'd love to." She replied, smiling at him. Whist in her head she was planning to confront Yuya on his strange behaviour tonight. And in his head, Varsch was congratulating himself on how he'd so easily fooled her.

He also praised Robin on his performance as Yuya when they met up later. Robin said he couldn't really take the credit, he'd just dressed as Yuya, Varsch had been the one to splice together a tape from recordings he'd taken of Yuya. In the end they just all praised each other for their work so far and continued work on the next stage of their plan.

As for Yuya. He'd won the duel, but he'd lost something more important…


	9. new deal

"Hey!" Yuya cried as he ran into the lounge area at You Show. "Whats—" He cut himself off when he noticed the chilling atmosphere in the room. Zuzu was glaring at him and the others were just awkwardly shuffling their feet. "Is something wrong?" He asked. Then suddenly he was attacked by a flurry of bashes from Zuzu's fan.

"You bet there's a problem." She yelled, looking ready to kill.

"Ow! Hey, take it easy." Yuya protested. "What have I done?"

"Like you don't know."

"I don't."

"How could you say those things to Varsch."

"What things?" Yuya asked. Zuzu's anger snapped at hearing that, how dare he act all innocent.

"Look Yuya, I don't know what's going on with you at the moment, I understand that you may be jealous—"

"Jealous?"

"Yes, but listen, Varsch asked me out and I said yes so—"

"You did, oh congratulations Zuzu." Said Yuya, ignoring the tightness growing in his chest.

"Hmm…" Zuzu eyed him, not really understanding what he was trying to pull. "Whatever, just stay out of our way until you've calmed down and are ready to apologise."

And with that she left the room, Ally and Fredrick immediately ran after her, leaving behind Tate and a very stunned Yuya.

"You know Yuya." Tate said, sounding sad. "I never thought you could be so mean to people, but I guess we all have our worse sides."

"What do you mean?" Yuya asked, as Tate pushed past him. "What's going on with everyone?"

He received no reply, they'd all left, he was just stood there, with no idea what had happened.

**Time skip…**

The next day at school, Zuzu and Varsch avoided Yuya, neither willing to talk to him until he'd apologised. They used their time alone to get to know each other better and, with his experience in lying and charming, Varsch had no problem convincing Zuzu she was in love with him.

Yuya meanwhile, watched the two of them with both confusion and anger. He didn't know why they were acting so coldly towards him but he didn't think he'd done anything wrong. The fact that his friends were upset with him for no reason left him moody and pouting pretty much the whole day. Until Varsch approached him that evening.

"Hey Yuya." He greeted.

"Oh hey." Yuya huffed. "So you finally wanna tell me why you and Zuzu have been avoiding me all day?!"

"Oh that, well I think this all just some big misunderstanding, see I thought Zuzu just wanted to spend some time alone together since we only just got together, but she's seems to have gotten the idea that you're jealous."

"Jealous?!" Yuya cried. "Why would she think that, I mean of course I really like her but I would try to—" He cut himself off, realise what he'd just said.

Varsch simply adored the horrified look on Yuya's face as it dawned on him that he'd revealed his feelings for his best friend.

"I—I mean…" Yuya stuttered.

"Yuya…" Varsch said, placing an arm around his "friend". "Listen I know you like her, it's obvious." Yuya hung his head in defeat, knowing it was pointless to try denying it now. "But I also know you're too good a person to try and come between her and me and I'm very grateful for that."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah, so anyway, how about you come over to my place tonight and we can sort this whole thing out, then tomorrow we can tell Zuzu it's all okay and things can go back to normal."

"Really? That'd be great." Yuya smiled.

"Well in that case follow me." Varsch said, walking out of the school gates. Yuya grinned and ran after him, chatting away to him as they walked, completely oblivious to what was coming.

The two of them arrived at Varsch's large, mansion like, house. Yuya gaped in awe at it, it was almost four times the size of his house. The inside was beautiful; the main room was held up by large marble pillars with gold decorations. There was a huge staircase leading up to the second floor, also covered in gold regalia.

"This place is amazing." Yuya whispered.

"Ah, it's nothing special." Varsch said, trying to act humble. "Come on, my room's in the basement."

The two of them walked down the hall and then a flight of stairs into the basement. Varsch went and dumped his bag on his bed while Yuya stood in the doorway taking in his room. It was the entire floor, so it had a little living area, work space, clothing, bed. It was one of the coolest rooms he'd ever seen.

"And now." Varsch said, turing around to reveal an evil smirk that made Yuya feel a tad nervous. He snapped his fingers and suddenly Yuya was grabbed by his arms.

"Hey let go! What's going on!" He cried. It was at that point that he actually looked at his captors, and was both shocked and terrified to see it was the same four people who'd been harassing him recently.

"What's going on Yuya." Varsch began, walking towards him. "Is that we want you to do something for us."

The others began chuckling.

"What do you mean? What is this?" Yuya was so confused.

Varsch sighed knowing he'd have to explain this. "I guess I should start from the beginning, to put it simply Yuya." Varsch said, his face now pressed dangerously close to Yuya's. "I hate you."

Yuya gasped. Varsch hated him? But they were friends weren't they? And yet; there had been so much hatred and malice behind his words. Hatred that shined in Varsch's eyes as Yuya stared at him, completely speechless.

"So me and my friends here decided it was time to show you your place." Varsch continued.

"What do you mean?"

"What he means." Nathan jumped in. "Is that you're a joke Yuya Sakaki. But you don't seem to care, we just want to help you realise how stupid and pathetic you are."

Yuya couldn't believe what he was hearing. These guys had really gone out of their way to hurt him? It was hard to believe anyone could be that cruel.

"Come on Varsch we're friends." Yuya begged, still not willing to believe this was happening.

"Like I would really be your friend, how dense can you get?!" He spat coldly. Yuya flinched at the hate in his tone, feeling very betrayed. Varsch then snapped his fingers and Yuya was forced to his knees with a cry of both pain and surprise.

"Hey!" Yuya yelled as they ripped his deck out of his pocket. "Give that back!"

"Sorry but It may come on handy."

He walked over to his desk and began shuffling through a few things, while the other four dragged Yuya over to a chair set up in the middle of the room. Yuya didn't like the look of the smiles on their faces, they were so sadistic it made him feel sick to his stomach. He thrashed around as hard as he could as they tied him to the chair but it was useless.

"Stop!" He begged.

"Stop?" Varsch said, coming to stand in front of him. "Why my dear friend." He took Yuya's chin in his palm. "We're just getting started." He walked over to a desk, on top of which sat a large shredder. Yuya wasn't sure why but it made him very nervous.

"Now, here's the deal." Said Varsch. "Zuzu's mine now and I don't want you around her anymore since you're so in love with her."

"I never said that." Yuya denied. "I said I like her, I didn't say I love her."

Varsch just smirked and picked up something on the table. He held it up casually, revealing it to be a large brown book. At first Yuya was confused, but then he finally recognised the book and turned extremely pale.

"No…" He whispered. Varsch just broaded his smirk and absently flicked though the pages.

"It was actually quite a good read; you certainly have a lot of secrets Sakaki."

"How dare you! That's mine give it back!" Yuya screamed, outraged.

"I don't think so," Varsch said, snapping the book shut. "Now to business. Like I was saying Yuya, I want you to stay away from my girlfriend, and don't deny you love her, it's all written here." He gestured to the book in his hands and Yuya growled at him. "Besides, it's not like you deserve a friend like her anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well she's pretty, kind, talented. Whereas you're an ugly, worthless fool, a downright waste of space. I mean really, your duelling skills are average—"

"Says someone who lost to me." Yuya interrupted. Varsch snapped at his comment but managed to supress his rage with a grit of his teeth.

"Oh yes, well I have ways to deal with that." He said. "And anyway I have your deck now and I didn't plan on returning it, so tell me this, Yuya Sakaki." He spun round to face Yuya. "Without your deck, what are you good for?"

"What do you mean?" Yuya asked.

"Well, you entertain people with your "really fun duels". But what about if you can't duel, what good are you then?"

Yuya opened his mouth to speak, but realised he had nothing to say. He couldn't think of anything he could do besides dueltaining.

"As I thought." Varsch said. "So like I said, Zuzu deserves better than you, like me."

"That's not for you to decide!" Said Yuya.

"What?"

"It's Zuzu's choice who her friends are not your's!"

"True, but she's chosen me and wants you gone, why do you think she's been avoiding you?"

"Uh…" Yuya was caught of guard by his words. Could it be true? Did Zuzu not want him around anymore?

"And you're going to stay away from her, if you want all of your little secrets safe." Varsch threatened, waving Yuya's journal in his face.

"You wouldn't…" Yuya gasped.

"We would, we did so before." Varsch smirked. For a moment Yuya didn't know what he meant, then he remembered the incident last week and suddenly it all made sense. The video thing had been a demonstration. To show him what they would do with his much deeper and darker secrets if he didn't do as they say. "And not just your secrets." Varsch added.

"What?"

"It would seem you keep some of your friends' secrets in here to," He waved the book around again. "I'm certain you wouldn't want those getting around."

Yuya gasped, Varsch was willing to use his friends to get to him. How could anyone be so cruel.

"So." Varsch continued. "Do we have a deal."

Yuya didn't answer. He didn't want his friends to get hurt, but he was still reluctant to obey Varsch and his associates.

Varsch let out a heavy sigh and went over to his desk. He came back carrying Yuya's deck.

"I didn't want to do this Yuya but you leave me no choice." He said, then without another word he picked up the first card in the deck, revealed to be Preformapal Partnaga, and put it in his shredded. The card was torn apart into hundreds of tiny strips right before Yuya's eyes. He just stared in horror, shaking all over.

"H-How c-could… you do that?" Yuya whispered, on the verge of tears. Nathan and his gang all smiled, thoroughly enjoying Yuya's torment.

"You didn't agree to our deal, so until you do I'll keep shreading your cards." Varsch said, putting another card, Preformapal Bowhopper, in the shredder for emphasis.

"No!" Yuya cried, as he saw another one of his precious cards ripped to pieces. "Okay." He spat, dropping his head so his bangs covered his eyes. "I'll do anything you want, just stop."

"I knew you'd see it our way." Varsch said happily. "What I want is for you to tell no one about any of this, especially my Zuzu."

Yuya flinched when Varsch referred to Zuzu as his, someone like him didn't deserve someone like Zuzu.

"Very well." Yuya agreed. "I won't say anything."

"Good, in that case, I'll let you guys take it from here." Varsch said to his friends. Yuya felt sick again as Varsch left and the other four surrounded him, pounding their fists into their hands…


	10. new outlook

When Varsch finally came back down to his room he found his friends sat around on the floor looking at their decks. Yuya was still tied to the chair but it was tipped over sideways. Yuya himself was unconscious, plus he'd been stripped down to his boxers and was covered in cuts and bruises.

"Oh, you're back." Nathan said, noticing Varsch standing in the doorway.

"Mm." He nodded. "Was it fun?"

"Oh yea, he squealed like a little girl." Carter said, prompting a round of laughter from everyone. Varsch walked over to Yuya and bent down to examine his face. He smirked when he saw the tear stains on yuya's cheeks and the pain etched into his face. Then without warning, he slapped him.

"Ah!" Yuya cried out, as he was so rudely awoken. He moaned unhappily as he attempted to open his eyes. His head was throbbing horribly.

 _Where am I? What happened?_ He thought. As his vision adjusted, he was greeted with the smirking face of his former friend. His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered what had happened.

"Rise and shine." Said Varsch. Yuya just growled at him and struggled with his restraints. "Aww… don't be like that." Varsch grabbed the chair and put it upright again.

"Enough! Let me go right now!" Yuya demanded.

"What?" Robin asked in mock surprise. "When we're having so much fun."

Yuya scowled angrily. The others all smiled, enjoying his suffering.

"Now then, I've been thinking…" Varsch began, gaining Yuya's attention. He took one of the cards from Yuya's deck and held it up. "Since you already agreed to our deal I guess I have no further use for these worthless things." And with that he dropped the card. Like the others before it, it was shredded into ribbons.

"No!" Yuya screamed. The others all laughed cruelly. "Stop! Don't do this! Leave them alone!" Yuya kept screaming and thrashing as one by one his cards were ripped up. Until eventually he hadn't the energy anymore. He'd already been severely beaten, and watching his precious cards get torn apart was more than his heart could take. He slumped forward in his chair until the ropes holding him wouldn't let him go any further, then muttered quietly under his breath. "Please."

A huge smirk broke on everyone's faces. This is what they'd all been waiting for. For Yuya to beg, for him to plead. Seeing the horror and despair on his face gave them all so much pleasure. It was sadistic and cruel but they didn't care. They were having too much fun to care. They wanted more, wanted him to beg and squirm. So with that in mind, Varsch shoved another two cards into the shredder.

"Please stop. I'm begging you." Yuya cried, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "Do what you want with me but please don't hurt my deck."

Varsch ignored him and continued to tear his cards into pieces.

"Please. Stop. No more, I can't take it." Yuya sobbed, he felt ashamed, letting these people see him cry. How could he let himself appear weak in front of them? But he couldn't let them destroy any more of his cards, they meant so much to him. His very soul was in his deck; without it he couldn't achieve his dream. His cards were like his friends, he could trust them, he could count on them, and they always came through for him. Which is why it broke him to see them destroyed one by one. "Come on, don't do this please." But his pleas fell on deaf ears, they continued to shred his cards until there was only one left. Varsch smiled smugly as he held it in front of Yuya's face, revealing it to be none other than Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

"Look at that, one last card." Varsch taunted. "What do you think boys? Should I give it back to him?"

"Shred it!" They all yelled.

"No!" Yuya cried. The group were actually surprised to see him the way he was now; he was shaking and had tears dripping from his chin right onto the floor. "Please, spare my Odd-Eyes. Do anything else you want with me but don't hurt Odd-Eyes."

The five bullies just stared at him, then smirked more than they ever had. His voice had sounded so broken and scared, it was beautiful.

"Hold his head up." Varsch ordered. "I want him to witness this."

Following his instructions, Devin grabbed Yuya's hair and pulled his head up violently.

"N-no." Yuya stammered. He watched in true terror as Varsch dumped his final card through that infernal machine. It seemed to happen in slow motion for Yuya, as though he could see ever tiny fibre of the card break one by one until there were none left to break.

"NO!" He cried out, causing an uproar of laughter from Varsch and his friends. But Yuya barely noticed, all he knew now was pain. It was like a part of himself had been shredded with his card. His dragon represented everything he loved about duelling, his pendulum summoning, his dueltaining, the fun it brought him, his dream of bringing smiles to the crowd. All of it had died along with his deck. And that was all it took to break Yuya down. He couldn't hold back anymore no matter how much he tried, he just sobbed his heart out as his tormentors laughed at him. Yuya heard their laughter but it only made him cry more, out of shame.

"You really are pathetic." Varsch said coldly. "Crying over a few cards, they were worthless anyway."

"You're wrong." Yuya shouted, anger showing in his voice even through his sadness.

"No." Said Varsch, taking Yuya's chin in his hand and forcing their eyes to meet. "You're a loser, you're worthless and you're a joke. And I'll make certain you see it."

Yuya just stared at him, tears still unconsciously streaming down his face. He was in so much pain he couldn't feel it. In fact he didn't even register being untied until Devin and Carter hauled him to his feet. He was still so weak from the beating he'd taken, both physically and emotionally, he didn't even try to fight back. They paused for a second while Nathan and Varsch scanned Yuya's entire body with their eyes. Yuya suddenly became conscious of the fact that he was half naked and couldn't fight the blush that rose in his cheeks.

While all this was happening, Robin had slipped over to the closet at the side of the room and opened the door. He nodded to his friends, signalling he was ready. Varsch and Nathan grabbed Yuya's legs, eliciting a surprised yelp from the poor dueltainer. They laughed and threw him into the cupboard. He hit the wall with a loud thud and slid to the floor, having no energy to get back up.

"We'll be back for you later, loser."

They laughed again and slammed the door, locking him in. Now alone, stripped, beaten and heartbroken, Yuya finally broke down fully and began crying his heart out. Releasing all the anger and pain built up within him.

And when his sobs finally slowed to soft sniffs, his mind was able to clear enough to ponder of Varsch's words.

_Is he right? Am I really just some fool? Is my purpose simply to be everybody's comic relief? Am I not worthy to be Zuzu, Tate, Fredrick and Ally's friend? He sighed sadly. I certainly feel like a loser right now…_

Suddenly the door flew open, startling him.

"Relax loser,"

Yuya looked up to find it was Robin who'd opened the door.

"We just figured you might be thirsty." He said, placing a glass of water on the floor by Yuya's feet. Yuya looked puzzled by this. Why were they being nice and not letting him go thirsty?

"No need to look so surprised. We want you to realise how much of a freak you are not die of thirst."

Yuya was still uncertain, but he was so thirsty. He grabbed the glass and gulped it down in one go.

"Ah, thanks." He muttered, feeling a small modicum of gratitude for the water.

"You're welcome." Robin replied, with an evil smirk. The smirk really unnerved Yuya. He looked from the glass to Robin a few times, until finally it clicked.

"What did you put in my drink?"

"Relax, Yuya." Robin mock soothed, kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just a little something to help you sleep. But before you do, Varsch had a message for you."

Yuya sent him a look, asking him to go on.

"He said to tell you, tomorrow, you'll see for yourself how little Zuzu cares about you."

The last thing Yuya heard was the sound of Robin's laughter, before everything went black.


	11. new lies

Yuya groaned tiredly as he finally came around. At first he had no idea where he was or what was going on. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurred. When his mind finally began to clear, the first thing he heard was ear-splitting laughter.

"Wha-What the?"

He shook his head a few times till his vision cleared, and he was able to see where he was. He was shocked to find it was one of the corridors at school, and that he was sat on the floor against a row of lockers surrounded by a hoard of laughing students. He clambered to his feet, placing a hand on the side of his head as the pain returned.

"What's going on?" He asked the people around him, but they were all too busy laughing their heads off.

"What's so funny?" He asked, genuinely confused. A few people in the front row pointed at him, causing Yuya even more confusion. He looked down at himself and gasped. Now he knew why everyone was laughing. He was currently sporting a crop top with a pink heart on it, a pink tutu with matching tights and red high heels.

Once the shock wore off, the humiliation of the situation finally set in. His face burned an even darker red than his hair and he shrunk in on himself slightly, not even having the strength to defend himself right now. He was just about to make a run for it, when he noticed something that made the violent red colour drain out of his face. Just a few feet away, was Varsch and Zuzu, and both of them were pointing and laughing at him. Suddenly everyone else having a good laugh at his expense was drowned out, and all he could hear was the horrid laughter of his long time friend. They very person who'd stuck by him throughout everything he'd been through. One of the few people who stood by him when his father disappeared. The girl he'd fallen in love with, was now pointing and laughing as he was humiliated in front of the whole school. That was just too much for him. He took off down the hall, his tears trailing behind him and laughter ringing in his ears.

_**Earlier…** _

"Hi." Varsch said warmly, wrapping his arms round Zuzu's waist.

"Hey." She greeted, with a giggle.

"So I talked to Yuya yesterday."

"You did?" She interrupted. "Did you work things out?"

"I'm not sure, he said he felt awful and he was going to make up for what he did by doing something stupid and humiliating."

Zuzu sighed, that sounded like Yuya. He'd probably dress up like a clown and fool around like he use to.

"He asked that we laugh with everyone at him, as a sign that we've forgiven him."

"Oh, okay."

She wasn't a hundred percent sure about this. And was even less sure when they came across her long-time friend dressed up like a 7-year-old girl.

"What was he thinking?" Varsch asked, looking incredulous.

"Oh, Yuya." Zuzu groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Quick, lets just laugh so he can be satisfied and get changed." Varsch said. Zuzu nodded and the two of them started pointing and laughing. Zuzu was surprised yet again when Yuya looked her way, his expression was so… hurt. Hadn't he wanted this? Suddenly he took off down the hall, and Zuzu swore she could see tears trailing behind him.

Yuya didn't notice Zuzu's sudden confusion, he just kept running. All he could see was her cruel, laughing face. He couldn't believe one of his best friends would laugh at him like that, didn't she see how upset he was? He stopped dead as a thought struck him. That maybe what those five idiots had said last night was true. That Zuzu really didn't care about him, that she'd finally realised what a loser he is and had decided to join the crowd in teasing him.

"Huh?" He snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed he was once again surrounded by a bunch of laughing people. "Stop it!" He cried, but it only made them laugh harder. His blush deepened and he took off once again, this time to find somewhere he could hide.

In the meantime, Zuzu and Varsch had started looking for Yuya, Zuzu was beginning to worry about him, he'd really been acting weird lately. Varsch just didn't want to look suspicious. He'd reveal the truth to Zuzu at some point, but only once she trusted him enough that it completely broke her heart.

"Can you hear that?" Zuzu asked.

"Hmm?" Varsch looked up from his thoughts, and as a matter of fact, he could he something. A soft sniffling, and it was coming from the stairwell just a few feet from them. The two of them walked over and followed the sound to the small space underneath the stairs. It was there that they found Yuya. Still in the ridiculous pink get up, and sobbing into his knees.

"Yuya?" Zuzu said cautiously. Yuya looked up, and Zuzu was surprised to see he looked somewhat afraid.

"It's okay I know." Yuya said. "I won't bother you anymore,"

He got up to leave but Zuzu stopped him.

"Wait, what are you talking about, Yuya's what's been up with you lately?"

She looked so sincere, Yuya almost thought he'd been wrong, that everything was going to be alright. But then he caught sight of Varsch behind her and remembered the deal they'd made, he would have to push Zuzu away. For her own safety.

"You're the one who's acting different!" He yelled at her.

"What?"

"You always spend time with him now." Yuya cried, pointing an accusing finger at Varsch. "I guess our friendship doesn't mean as much as I thought it did."

"What are you talking about!" Zuzu said, sounding increasingly angry.

"I'm saying, until you start acting like a proper friend you can just leave me alone."

Yuya pushed past Zuzu, who just stood stock still, too shocked to move.

"Well done." Varsch whispered as Yuya walked past him. Yuya hated that he'd been backed into a corner like this, but would do anything to keep his friends out of it.


	12. new lifestyle

Things drastically changed after that. For everyone.

Zuzu started spending all her time with Varsch at school, and Ally, Tate and Fredrick at You Show. She tried to talk to Yuya many times, but each time he would push her away. Though it hurt her more than she cared to admit, she tried not to let it bother her, tried to convince herself it was Yuya's problem, not hers. But still it hurt.

As for Yuya, all the humiliation and blackmail he'd been through had left him a social outcast. People began to spread all kinds of rumours about him, shunned him in the halls, whispered and laughed behind his back. He'd also been receiving regular beatings each day from Nathan and his thugs. He was having to hide all his bruises and scraps with make up now. He had too keep quiet about everything or else Varsch would spill all of his and his friends' secrets to everyone. Something he couldn't let happen. Keeping it from his mom was easy, he'd had plenty of practice in his past at keeping these things to himself. And Varsch took care of Zuzu. He'd essentially built a bubble around himself and her. Whilst inside, she was completely unaware of the cruelty and hate everyone directed at her friend. She would then tell Tate, Ally and Fredrick her point of view so they didn't know what was happening either. Plus Yuya had stopped coming to You Show. Not only did he no longer have a deck, but he didn't feel up to entertaining at the moment. It was like all the happiness had been sucked out of his life. Now he just wandered through it like a ghost, not reacting to anything on the outside. Whilst on the inside, everything was cutting into his heart deeper and deeper each day.

"Hey freak." Nathan said one morning, as Yuya was taking things from his locker.

"Mm?" Yuya hummed quietly, looking up at them with dull, depressed, eyes. Which seemed to be the only kind he had nowadays.

"We were wondering why you were looking so pale." Said Devin.

"What?" Yuya whispered. The gang of bullies all smirked, then Nathan poured a tin of white paint all over Yuya's head.

"Oh that's why." He said, shoving Yuya to the floor as everyone laughed. Yuya just dropped his head and bit his lip, feeling humiliated. As usual no one attempted to help him, no one wanted to be seen being friendly to the school's newest outcast. It was, for lack of a better term, social suicide.

Yuya didn't even try to defend himself anymore, he'd lost the will to do so. Instead he just went to the gym locker room to use the showers and hopefully get the paint off. He took the time to have a good think. He barely even felt the warm water against his skin. No matter how much he turned up the heat, he still felt cold inside.

 _Why did this happen?_ He thought. _My friends hate me. And my deck is…_ He fought against the tears that always threatened him at the thought of his beloved deck. _I just don't understand why those guys would go to such extremes to make me feel this way. Am I really that bad a person? Are all the things they say about me true?_

He sighed, something he'd been doing a lot of recently, and turned the tap off. When he opened the curtain he got quite a surprise. A horrible one. All his stuff was gone, and there was writing all over the walls and lockers.

_Clown_

_Coward_

_Joke_

_Freak_

_Lousy Dueltainer_

_Loser_

_Go to hell_

_No one likes you_

_Just drop dead freak_

These were just some of the horrible things they wrote. Yuya read all of them, over and over until they were too blurred to be made out behind his tears. He fell to the floor, crying and wondering yet again what the purpose of all of this was.

"Maybe it's true." He sniffed. "Maybe they really are all doing this because I'm the loser they say I am."

He just sat there on the floor for a while, half crying, half shivering. He didn't dare look up, he didn't think he could face those horrible words again. Mostly because he knew they were true. How had he been reduced to this in the space of a few weeks. The answer was simple really. Deep down Yuya had never really recovered from his father's disappearance. Losing someone he was so very close to, and then being made fun of about it had hurt him deeply. It set a scar across his heart that refused to heal, and he built up a wall of silliness and stupidity to make himself feel better. Until he defeated the sledgehammer and learnt to pendulum summon and he finally felt safe. Like he could take down his wall and be himself again. But he also exposed his weakness again, and these jerks had taken advantage of that. The truth is, he'd always been vulnerable, but not many could see that. Until now…

His self-hateful thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door as a hoard of boys entered to get ready for their gym class. A class that just happened to include Nathan, Robin and Devin. As soon as the group saw Yuya, sitting naked on the floor with obvious signs he'd been crying, they fell about laughing. Yuya blushed and instinctively reached for his goggles, only to find they weren't there. Then he remembered that they'd been stolen along with the rest of his clothes. He looked up with a terrified expression as the boys' laughter increased, they'd only just noticed all the hateful things written on the wall. Yuya was both afraid and mortified, so he did the only thing he could think of: run. Seeing him try to 'make and escape' was apparently great entertainment to everyone as they decided to laugh even harder. And things were not better for Yuya out in the hall, where a bunch of students on the way to their next classes were able to see him. He yelped and did his best to cover his essentials as they all began pointing and laughing.

"Please stop." He whispered. But no one could hear him. They were too busy laughing at him to listen to him. Which seemed to be the way everyone acted towards him nowadays. He found himself running up to the roof, something he'd been doing a lot as of late. He always like to sit up here to think when he was down. Although it was awfully cold without his clothes. Not that he was complaining, he'd definitely take freezing to death over dying of humiliation.

"I should just face it." He said sadly, leaning against the wall of the stairwell and sliding to the floor. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them. "I've gone from school clown to school laughing stock. From an entertainer to a downright joke."


	13. new duel

"Oof." Yuya grunted in pain as he was tossed against the wall. Varsch, Nathan and his friends snickered as he struggled to get back up. "Can we stop now? Please?" Yuya begged.

"Aw, had enough already loser?" Robin laughed, giving him another kick.

"You just keep getting more and more pathetic." Devin said, looking at Yuya as if he was the most disgusting thing on the planet. Something Yuya had been telling himself a lot at the moment. One his way home from school and his regular beating, he could feel the gazes of everyone boring into him. Strangers gave him questioning and odd looks, obviously directed at his cuts and scraps. But to Yuya, it was like they could see he was worthless, like their stares were telling him to get lost because no one wanted him around. He looked down at his feet, and was surprised to see them running. When had he broken into a sprint? Now he wasn't even paying attention to himself. All he knew in his head was that he wanted to get away, away from everyones' judgmental stares, their cruel whispers, their sickening laughter. He just wanted things to be how they were before. He wished more than anything he could turn back time to a month ago, when everything was fine. He wished he could turn back time so he never went to Varsch's house that evening, or invited him to his place, or even said hello to him when he first came here. So that he could once again train to be a dueltainer alongside his friends. _His friends…_ Oh how he wished he could go to them, beg their forgiveness, plead their help. However, not only would what little pride he had left not allow him, but if he said anything to anyone, all his and his friends' secrets would become, well, not so secret.

 _I really am useless._ He thought sadly as he entered his house. He came in the back door so he could avoid his mom, the last thing he wanted was for her to learn what was going on. Not only was he sworn to secrecy, but he didn't want her getting involved.

"Yuya? Is that you?" Yuko called from the kitchen. Yuya froze, took a deep breath, and put on the best happy tone he could.

"Yeah mom, sorry I'm late again."

"That's okay, dinners in an hour."

"Okay!"

He quickly went upstairs to the bathroom to work on covering up his new bruises before anyone noticed. He turned of the tap and splashed the cool water over his face. He looked up at himself in the mirror, and sadly, wasn't surprised by what he saw. Ugly purple bruises had formed all over his cheeks and eyes, and large red scratches were dotted all over his face. _Guess I'm just as disgusting outside as I am inside._ He thought sady, placing a hand to the mirror, forlornly. He tried to fight it but eventually big fat tears began rolling down his face. _Why am I so pathetic…?_

**_The next day…_ **

Today was like any other for Yuya. He was pushed around, bullied, humiliated, beaten etc. Except for when it came time for Varsch and his mates to beat Yuya up.

"Wait please!" Yuya cried, placing his hands in front of his face as Varsch was about to bring his foot down onto it.

"What is it now…" He sighed angrily.

"I can't take this anymore, there must be something I can do so you'll stop." Yuya begged. Varsch was about to beat his face in anyway, when he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea.

"Actually." He said, "There might be."

"Really?" Yuya asked, looking incredibly hopeful.

"Mmhm." He nodded, as the rest of the gang looked on in confusion. He then surprised everyone even more by chucking a hoard of cards at Yuya. Yuya picked a few up to examin them, and was shocked to discover they were his cards. He burst into tears of joy at seeing his precious preformapals and pendulum monsters again.

"What?" Devin said, now completely lost. "I thought you destroyed those things."

"His pendulum cards intrigued me, so I kept them and destroyed some copies I made." Varsch explained.

"Oh thank you." Yuya cried, hugging his deck, so thrilled to have it back again. For maybe the first time in weeks he was actually feeling happy.

"Not so fast Yuya." Varsch continued. "I said we'd leave you alone if you did something, and that thing is beat me in a duel."

"Yeah? Shouldn't be hard, I already beat you before."

As soon as those words left his lips, Yuya realised his mistake. He got kicked square in the face, causing blood to come squirting out his nose. He clutched at his face and tried to stem the flow.

"Well now I want a rematch. Tomorrow at lunch, in front of the whole school," Varsch said. "Oh and I have some conditions."

"Like what?"

"I will be duelling to get revenge on you for the way you've treated Zuzu. That way she'll fall even more in love with me."

 _And hate you even more._ He added in his head.

Yuya wasn't sure about the conditions, but he really wanted these jerks to leave him alone, so he reluctantly agreed to the duel.

"Good, now get out of here." Varsch said, tossing Yuya to the ground one more time, and spitting in his direction. Yuya hastily scrambled to his feet and took off, clutching his deck protectively.

"Why'd you go and do that?" Carter asked.

"Simple, not only will it widen the gap between Yuya and Zuzu, but it'll destroy his confidence in himself to loose in such a big way. And in front of everyone to."

"How can you be sure he'll loose, he did defeat you before." Nathan pointed out.

Surprisingly, Varsch remained calm this time around. "Because that was before we crushed his soul." He replied. "And we're going to make a few extra arrangements to make certain I win."

Realisation dawned on the faces of his four companions, realisation that quickly turned to smugness.

Yuya was in big trouble now…

* * *

**Chapter 14: new outcome**

* * *

News of the duel reached the ears of the entire student body by the end of first period thanks to the quick work of Nathan and his gang. So at lunch time, everyone was present to see the duel. Yuya stood in the middle of the field, duel disk all fired up and ready to go. He looked down and noticed his hands were shaking.

 _Why am I so nervous? Duelling supposed to be fun._ He thought. Of course he never usually had anything to loose when he duelled. Now his self-preservation and self-dignity was on the line. Sure there were worse things to loose, but he couldn't help but be a bit nerve-wracked.

Varsch on the other hand was with Zuzu at the other end of the field, feeling on top of the world.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked him.

"I have to find some way of getting through to him, maybe I can figure out why he's been so harsh towards you lately."

He cupped the right side of her face in his hand and looked at her with his best comforting gaze. It worked like a dream, she melted into his touch and smiled warmly, fully accepting what he said. Satisfied, Varsch took his place at the other end of the field to begin the duel.

"I think I'll start off," He said, drawing his first card. "First I summon my White Tiger in attack mode."

As the card said, a large white tiger appeared on the field.

**White Tiger – ATK 1400**

"But it won't be sticking around, because I'm going to sacrifice it to summon a monster I'm sure you're familiar with. Yin Warrior!"

His tiger disappeared and Yin Warrior took its place.

**Yin Warrior – ATK 2600**

"Next I place two cards face down and hand over to you."

"Okay then, I draw. Next I—"

"Not so fast!" Varsch cried. "I'm activating a trap, Warriors Barrier, since you just drew a card I can use this card to prevent you from using a certain type of monster or card for the rest of the duel. And do you know what." Varsch smirked. "I choose your pendulum cards."

"What?!" Yuya cried.

"What?!" Everyone else cried a second after.

"You heard me, you must now banish all your pendulum cards from the game."

Yuya just gaped at him. No pendulum cards. But pendulum cards were his ace, how would he win without them?! He gritted his teeth in frustration and removed his pendulum cards from his deck.

"It's still your turn Yuya. Come on, you're an entertainment duellist right, so entertain us. We're waiting." Varsch cried, gesturing to the crowd. Yuya was so confused right now he didn't know what to do. He was supposed to entertain people right? Why was he finding it so hard?

"I, uh, I summon preformapal hip hippo in attack mode." Yuya said, summoning said monster.

**Preformapal Hip Hippo – ATK 800**

"And I place a card face down." Yuya said, finishing his turn.

"That's it?" Varsch asked. "Where's the excitement? Where's the fun?"

"Yeah!" Nathan called from the crowd. "This boring, at least try to make it more interesting."

The crowd all gave cries of agreement, yelling very negative things at Yuya. Yuya himself looked like a deer caught in headlights. He'd never been treated like this by a crowd before. It was a dueltainers job to make everyone happy, but now all they wanted to do was yell at him.

"I… Um…" Yuya stuttered.

As she was watching, Zuzu found herself feeling sorry for Yuya. Sure he'd been acting like a jerk recently, but he didn't really deserve to be slammed in a duel like this.

"Whatever, I'm only doing this to make you pay for the way you've treated my lovely girlfriend." Varsch said, winking at Zuzu, causing her to blush.

"Well she deserved it," Yuya huffed, keeping up his act. He had to keep Zuzu away, to keep her safe. Even though seeing the way she blushed at Varsch made his heart twist in pain.

"How dare you!" Zuzu cried, face turning red in anger.

"Don't worry darling." Varsch soothed. "I'll make him regret that."

He drew from his deck as his turn commenced.

"And this is just the card to do it." He smirked. "I play shining lanterns." The mentioned card appeared on the field. It showed a picture of Chinese lanterns. "This card allows me to create a clone of my Yin Warrior." Another Yin Warrior joined the first one on the field.

**Yin Warrior – ATK 2600**

"Now I activate Polymerization to fuse my two Yin Warriors. I fusion summon, a monster you should already know and fear. Yin-Yang Sorcerer."

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200**

"Yeah!" The crowd cried, getting excited at last. They all began cheering for Varsch causing Yuya to stare around him in disbelief. This wasn't right, he was supposed to excite the crowd. But they were all against him now.

"And incase you were thinking of using that facedown card to help you, you can think again, because I activate the Great Wall magic card."

One of his face down card's flipped up revealing an image of the great wall of china.

"This card blocks all your cards' effects for this turn."

Yuya gasped.

"And I'm not done. Now I activate my sorcerer's special ability, she gets an extra thousand attack points for every spell or trap card on the field." There were three spell and trap cards so Yin-Yang sorcerer got a lot stronger.

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200 – 6200**

"Sixty-two hundred attack points!" Yuya gasped.

"More than enough to wipe you out!" Varsch cried, "Yin-Yang sorcerer, end this!"

A huge flash left his sorcerer's staff and destroyed Yuya's monster.

**Yuya Sakaki – LP 4000 – 0**

Yuya was frozen to the spot for a few seconds as everyone just stared, still taking in what had happened. Then suddenly everyone began cheering.

"Yeah!"

"Go Varsch."

"You show that loser who's the best."

"Yeah get off the stage you duelfailure!"

Yuya collapsed to his knees, still unable to believe what had just happened.

 _No._ He thought as tears stung the corners of his eyes. _This can't be._

"Sorry Yuya." Varsch said, using his nice act again. After all, Zuzu was watching. "But you've been acting horribly to my girlfriend and I couldn't stand it anymore." He was now stood directly in front of Yuya's pathetic form. "The three of us were supposed to be friends, don't you think you should just appologise."

"No!" Yuya yelled. "I am not your friend! And I don't want to be Zuzu's friend anymore either."

Those words hurt both Yuya and Zuzu more than the other would ever know. Yuya regretted them the moment they left his lips. But at the same time, he knew pushing Zuzu away was the only way to keep her safe.

"Too bad." Varsch muttered, kneeling down so he was level with Yuya, he leant forward and whispered in his ear so only he would hear. "And by the way, just look around you, listen to the way the crowd hates you. You saw how pathetically you just dueled. Face it, you'll never be a good dueltainer. You can't even measure up to that useless coward you call a father."

And with that he left. He went back to Zuzu. tears finally streamed down Yuya's cheeks as Varsch's words hit their mark. And the final shreds of self-worth Yuya had for himself were gone. Only self-hatred was left in their place. And his heart was completely shattered when he looked up and saw Varsch making out with Zuzu. The two of them looked so happy and in love. It was the way Yuya had always wished Zuzu would look at him, but instead it was towards someone who tormented him everyday. He pushed his way out of the crowd and ran as far away as he could. He refused to stay after he'd been so thoroughly shamed and heartbroken. But no matter how fast he went, he couldn't outrun his thoughts. They were all telling him the same thing. That Varsch had won, and he was nothing but a loser.

What he would never know was that Nathan and his group had fixed Varsch's deck and duel disk so he would get exactly the cards he wanted, when he wanted them. The perfect cards to counter Yuya's, which Varsch had studied extensively while they were in his possession.


	14. new outcome

News of the duel reached the ears of the entire student body by the end of first period thanks to the quick work of Nathan and his gang. So at lunch time, everyone was present to see the duel. Yuya stood in the middle of the field, duel disk all fired up and ready to go. He looked down and noticed his hands were shaking.

 _Why am I so nervous? Duelling supposed to be fun._ He thought. Of course he never usually had anything to loose when he duelled. Now his self-preservation and self-dignity was on the line. Sure there were worse things to loose, but he couldn't help but be a bit nerve-wracked.

Varsch on the other hand was with Zuzu at the other end of the field, feeling on top of the world.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked him.

"I have to find some way of getting through to him, maybe I can figure out why he's been so harsh towards you lately."

He cupped the right side of her face in his hand and looked at her with his best comforting gaze. It worked like a dream, she melted into his touch and smiled warmly, fully accepting what he said. Satisfied, Varsch took his place at the other end of the field to begin the duel.

"I think I'll start off," He said, drawing his first card. "First I summon my White Tiger in attack mode."

As the card said, a large white tiger appeared on the field.

**White Tiger – ATK 1400**

"But it won't be sticking around, because I'm going to sacrifice it to summon a monster I'm sure you're familiar with. Yin Warrior!"

His tiger disappeared and Yin Warrior took its place.

**Yin Warrior – ATK 2600**

"Next I place two cards face down and hand over to you."

"Okay then, I draw. Next I—"

"Not so fast!" Varsch cried. "I'm activating a trap, Warriors Barrier, since you just drew a card I can use this card to prevent you from using a certain type of monster or card for the rest of the duel. And do you know what." Varsch smirked. "I choose your pendulum cards."

"What?!" Yuya cried.

"What?!" Everyone else cried a second after.

"You heard me, you must now banish all your pendulum cards from the game."

Yuya just gaped at him. No pendulum cards. But pendulum cards were his ace, how would he win without them?! He gritted his teeth in frustration and removed his pendulum cards from his deck.

"It's still your turn Yuya. Come on, you're an entertainment duellist right, so entertain us. We're waiting." Varsch cried, gesturing to the crowd. Yuya was so confused right now he didn't know what to do. He was supposed to entertain people right? Why was he finding it so hard?

"I, uh, I summon preformapal hip hippo in attack mode." Yuya said, summoning said monster.

**Preformapal Hip Hippo – ATK 800**

"And I place a card face down." Yuya said, finishing his turn.

"That's it?" Varsch asked. "Where's the excitement? Where's the fun?"

"Yeah!" Nathan called from the crowd. "This boring, at least try to make it more interesting."

The crowd all gave cries of agreement, yelling very negative things at Yuya. Yuya himself looked like a deer caught in headlights. He'd never been treated like this by a crowd before. It was a dueltainers job to make everyone happy, but now all they wanted to do was yell at him.

"I… Um…" Yuya stuttered.

As she was watching, Zuzu found herself feeling sorry for Yuya. Sure he'd been acting like a jerk recently, but he didn't really deserve to be slammed in a duel like this.

"Whatever, I'm only doing this to make you pay for the way you've treated my lovely girlfriend." Varsch said, winking at Zuzu, causing her to blush.

"Well she deserved it," Yuya huffed, keeping up his act. He had to keep Zuzu away, to keep her safe. Even though seeing the way she blushed at Varsch made his heart twist in pain.

"How dare you!" Zuzu cried, face turning red in anger.

"Don't worry darling." Varsch soothed. "I'll make him regret that."

He drew from his deck as his turn commenced.

"And this is just the card to do it." He smirked. "I play shining lanterns." The mentioned card appeared on the field. It showed a picture of Chinese lanterns. "This card allows me to create a clone of my Yin Warrior." Another Yin Warrior joined the first one on the field.

**Yin Warrior – ATK 2600**

"Now I activate Polymerization to fuse my two Yin Warriors. I fusion summon, a monster you should already know and fear. Yin-Yang Sorcerer."

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200**

"Yeah!" The crowd cried, getting excited at last. They all began cheering for Varsch causing Yuya to stare around him in disbelief. This wasn't right, he was supposed to excite the crowd. But they were all against him now.

"And incase you were thinking of using that facedown card to help you, you can think again, because I activate the Great Wall magic card."

One of his face down card's flipped up revealing an image of the great wall of china.

"This card blocks all your cards' effects for this turn."

Yuya gasped.

"And I'm not done. Now I activate my sorcerer's special ability, she gets an extra thousand attack points for every spell or trap card on the field." There were three spell and trap cards so Yin-Yang sorcerer got a lot stronger.

**Yin-Yang Sorcerer – ATK 3200 – 6200**

"Sixty-two hundred attack points!" Yuya gasped.

"More than enough to wipe you out!" Varsch cried, "Yin-Yang sorcerer, end this!"

A huge flash left his sorcerer's staff and destroyed Yuya's monster.

**Yuya Sakaki – LP 4000 – 0**

Yuya was frozen to the spot for a few seconds as everyone just stared, still taking in what had happened. Then suddenly everyone began cheering.

"Yeah!"

"Go Varsch."

"You show that loser who's the best."

"Yeah get off the stage you duelfailure!"

Yuya collapsed to his knees, still unable to believe what had just happened.

 _No._ He thought as tears stung the corners of his eyes. _This can't be._

"Sorry Yuya." Varsch said, using his nice act again. After all, Zuzu was watching. "But you've been acting horribly to my girlfriend and I couldn't stand it anymore." He was now stood directly in front of Yuya's pathetic form. "The three of us were supposed to be friends, don't you think you should just appologise."

"No!" Yuya yelled. "I am not your friend! And I don't want to be Zuzu's friend anymore either."

Those words hurt both Yuya and Zuzu more than the other would ever know. Yuya regretted them the moment they left his lips. But at the same time, he knew pushing Zuzu away was the only way to keep her safe.

"Too bad." Varsch muttered, kneeling down so he was level with Yuya, he leant forward and whispered in his ear so only he would hear. "And by the way, just look around you, listen to the way the crowd hates you. You saw how pathetically you just dueled. Face it, you'll never be a good dueltainer. You can't even measure up to that useless coward you call a father."

And with that he left. He went back to Zuzu. tears finally streamed down Yuya's cheeks as Varsch's words hit their mark. And the final shreds of self-worth Yuya had for himself were gone. Only self-hatred was left in their place. And his heart was completely shattered when he looked up and saw Varsch making out with Zuzu. The two of them looked so happy and in love. It was the way Yuya had always wished Zuzu would look at him, but instead it was towards someone who tormented him everyday. He pushed his way out of the crowd and ran as far away as he could. He refused to stay after he'd been so thoroughly shamed and heartbroken. But no matter how fast he went, he couldn't outrun his thoughts. They were all telling him the same thing. That Varsch had won, and he was nothing but a loser.

What he would never know was that Nathan and his group had fixed Varsch's deck and duel disk so he would get exactly the cards he wanted, when he wanted them. The perfect cards to counter Yuya's, which Varsch had studied extensively while they were in his possession.


	15. new visions

The next day Yuya was teased constantly about his pathetic excuse for a duel. He was tripped in the halls, pushed down stairs and laughed at almost all the day. He was utterly miserable, all his thoughts were dark and self destroying. And his treatment from his peers did not help. There was also the way Varsch kept rubbing it in his face that he was the one dating Zuzu. It hurt for him to see the girl he loved with another. But even more so to know that, that person didn't really care about her. He found himself constantly watching the two of them for the entire day. He looked on sadly, seeing how happy the two of them were. A part of him said it should be him laughing with Zuzu, but another part said he wasn't worthy.

Apart from that, it was a normal day. And a normal day would not be complete without him being ambushed by Nathan's gang as he left so he could be dragged to the back of the school and beaten up. He didn't fight back when they did. He had neither the will nor the strength.

"Come on." Robin whined, giving Yuya another punch. "It's no fun when you don't fight back."

"Don't bother." Said Carter. "He's too much of a coward to fight."

They all laughed and began slinging insults at him along with the kicks and punches.

_Coward_

_Freak_

_Loser_

_Pathetic_

_Loner_

_Loser_

_Useless_

Were just some of them.

"I can't believe someone like you ever thought you had a chance with a girl like Zuzu, she's way out of your league." Varsch said coldly.

"Considering your league is the lowest in the world." Devin stated, matter of factly. Yuya didn't respond, just slumped against the wall, too pained to move.

"Tell me Yuya." Varsch began, kneeling down so he was level with him. "What are you?"

Yuya muttered incoherently.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said," Yuya rasped. "That I'm an ugly, useless, pathetic fool. I'm just a joke."

Varsch and his friends smirked happily, especially at the sad, forlorn tone Yuya spoke with.

"Yes you are." Varsch said. "And you always will be, it's so nice to see you finally accept it."

He gave Yuya one final kick, laughed, then left.

As soon as he was alone, Yuya let the tears that had built up in his eyes fall. He whimpered in pain, sadness and loneliness.

"Yuya?"

The person in question raised his head to see none other than Zuzu stood in front of him. She looked concerned, but that was impossible, she didn't care about him, no one did.

"If you're hear to laugh and insult me too just get on with it." He murmured.

She just stared at him, completely stunned. _This can't be Yuya… He looks so broken and hurt._ She also couldn't believe what she'd just witnessed, her boyfriend and some of the school bullies beating and tormenting Yuya. Varsch wouldn't do something like that, but she'd seen it herself… _Ah! I'm so confused._ She cried inside her head. She was brought back to reality by the sound of Yuya moaning and collapsing.

"Yuya!" She cried, rushing to his side. He was unconscious and very badly hurt. She had to act fast. She scooped him up in her arms, not caring how ridiculous it must have looked, and rushed to find Yuya some help. It didn't matter to her that he'd been acting so harshly towards her recently, he was still her friend. Whether he liked it or not.


	16. new passions

"Yuya." Yoko sobbed, as she and Zuzu sat by his bedside. He'd been unconscious ever since Zuzu had brought him home. Yoko had treated his wounds, now all that remained was for him to wake up.

"Come on Yuya." Zuzu begged, gripping the edge of her skirt in worry.

"Mm." Yuya hummed, catching their attention. His eyelids creased together as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. His eyes opened slowely, and he was surprised to see he was at home. What surprised him even more was that his mom and Zuzu were both beside him looking worried.

"Mom? Zuzu?"

"Yuya!" They both cried, flinging their arms around him. Yuya stiffened, unable to comprehend why they would want to hug him.

"Why are you hugging someone like me?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Yoko asked. Zuzu also looked confused by his question, until suddenly she remembered the things she'd heard Yuya say about himself.

"Yuya." She said, placing a hand on his arm. "You can't really think those things you said can you?"

"What things?"

"I heard what you said to Varsch about yourself." She muttered, dropping her head as the horrid images plagued her mind. Yuya paled. _No, she can't have heard it. She can't get involved._ He ripped his arm from her grasp and turned away from them.

"Yuya?" Said Zuzu, growing more and more scared.

"Yuya." Yoko sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Tell us what's going on."

"I can't."

"Oh yes you can!" She said firmly, spinning him round and glaring at him, letting him know she meant in. He shook horribly for a few moments, too scared to say anything. But eventually he saw he had no choice but to tell them everything. She took a deep breath and started from the beginning…

He told them everything, from the blackmail to beatings. He was careful to leave out the parts about him liking Zuzu, if he ever did get the courage to tell her, this was not the way he wanted to do it. Zuzu and Yoko were both horrified by what they heard, especially when he told them how they'd allegedly shredded his cards. In fact by the time he was finished they were both in tears.

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

"What do you mean? Because they really hurt you, that's why." Zuzu replied.

"You shouldn't worry about me, I'm not worth worrying about." He said sadly.

"Don't talk like that." Yoko snapped. "Don't listen to these people Yuya, they're wrong."

"No they're right. I'm only good at dueltaining, and I'm not even good at that, you saw how badly I lost Zuzu."

Zuzu's face fell when she realised it was true, Yuya had lost in a pretty big way. However she had a hunch that if what Yuya said about Varsch was true, then he had probably rigged the duel. Knowing him, he wouldn't take any chances. She mulled over this for a few minutes as Yoko comforted her son, until finally she reached a decision. She stood up, looking more determined than ever.

"Zuzu?" Yuya asked. "Where are you going?"

She paused at the door for a second.

"Sorry, but if you'll excuse me. I have to go break up with my boyfriend." She said, then left before either Yuya or Yoko had a chance to speak.

"No, Zuzu." Said Yuya, he moved to get up but his mom stopped him.

"Oh, no you don't, you need rest young man." She scoulded.

"But Zuzu—"

"Will be fine." Yoko smiled. "She's strong, I don't think you'll need to worry about her."

Yuya wasn't so sure, he'd seen first hand what Varsch could do to people. If Zuzu confronted him alone, there was a chance she wouldn't come away from it okay. Unfortunately, all he could to for her now was hope he was wrong…


	17. new boyfriend

Zuzu arrived at Varsch's house even more riled up than when she left Yuya's. On the way there she had thought over everthing Yuya had told her, and all the little things she'd been concerned about had suddenly become clear to her. The way both Yuya and Varsch had been acting made so much sense now. And that made her furious. Not only did Varsch severely hurt her best friend, but he tricked her into helping him do it. He was going to pay big time for that.

"Varsch!" She cried, knocking on the door.

"Zuzu!" He greeted happily, upon opening the door. "What a lovely surprise, do come in."

"Thank you." She said, trying to act calm. "I wanted to talk to you, let's go to your room."

"Sure." He replied, leading her down the corridor to the stairwell. They descended into his basement room and sat down across from each other in his armchairs. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Zuzu's smile immediately disappeared, a large scowl and glare taking it's place.

"Let's talk about what you did to Yuya."

Varsch's eyes widened when she said that. How did she find out?

"So he finally told you, I should have known he wouldn't keep his promise."

"He didn't tell me anything! I saw you and your friends attack him after school." She half lied. She didn't want to get Yuya into more trouble.

"I was just teaching him a lesson for hurting your feelings."

"Enough lies, I can tell something's going on here and I want to know what it is."

Varsch scowled, unhappy that he was unable to fool her. He sighed and stood up.

"Very well then, come with me."

He took her hand and lead her to his closet. Zuzu was confused by this, but also curious. So when he opened the door she couldn't help but look inside. Only to be shoved in and have the door locked behind her.

"Hey!" She cried, banging on the door. "Let me out!"

But no matter how loud or how long she yelled for, no one came to release her. Eventually she just gave up on the door and took a look around the cupboard. She felt along the walls until her fingers brushed the light switch. She flicked it on, and was shocked by what she saw. In the middle of the room, or rather closet, was a large board with the words: destroy Yuya plan, written across the top. Upon the board were outlines of all the things they'd done to Yuya over the past two months, and it was exactly as Yuya said it was. Right down to his journal, which lay on a shelf at the back of the cupboard. Next to a tape recorder and, what Zuzu was surprised to discover was, a costume of Yuya. When she played the tape, it was everything she'd heard Yuya say to Varsch the day she agreed to go out with him. So it hadn't been Yuya at all! Oh god she wanted to slap herself for making such a mistake. How could she have let them fool her like they had?!

She looked down at Yuya's journal in her hands. A part of her said she should put it away and not look, after all it was private. But the other, more curious, part of her said she should take a peak. After all, Varsch and his friends did, and unlike them she wasn't going to use it against Yuya.

After a minute, the curious side won over and she began to read. She found a lot of things she already knew; she had been Yuya's friend since childhood. There were a few things about Gong and Sora that she hadn't heard before but they didn't matter too much. What did draw her interest was an entry Yuya had written about her. She was stunned to find it was a description of her, the same one Varsch had given the day he asked her out. So he took that from Yuya too. She thought angrily. At the end of the page was written Yuya's confession, of his love for her. Zuzu gasped and dropped the book.

_No way! Can this be true?!_

She picked it up and reread it several times but it always lead to the same conclusion. Yuya was in love with her. How convenient that she'd had a crush on him for years also. She'd started to believe he didn't feel the same way, seeing as how he never showed any sort of attraction to her. _He must be really good at hiding it._ She concluded. And then Varsch had came along. She thought that if Yuya didn't like her, she might as well stop chasing an impossible dream and be with someone who liked her. The things he said and did had made her feel so wonderful. But now she knew those were not his words, they were Yuya's. So it was really him she'd fallen for. She let out a laugh as she suddenly realised the irony of the situation. That she'd gotten over her crush on Yuya by falling in love with Yuya.

Speaking of Yuya, he was so worried about Zuzu, he ignored his mother's warning and snuck out to help her. Which was how he found himself knocking on Varsch's front door.

"Hello." Varsch said as he opened the door.

"Where is she." Yuya said, getting straight to the point.

"Yuya!" Varsch cried, pretending to be happy. "What a surprise."

"Don't play games with me Varsch. I know Zuzu's here, if I find out you've hurt her—"

"Hurt her!" Varsch exclaimed "What do you take me for! I would never hurt a lady. I have some decency. If you're so desperate to see her follow me."

He turned around and walked towards his basement. Yuya followed from a safe distance, keeping his guard up the entire time. He felt uneasy being in Varsch's room after what happened the last time he was there. And on top of that he couldn't see Zuzu anywhere.

"She's in there." Varsch said, pointing at his closet. Yuya raised an eyebrow, clearly not willing to trust him. Varsch sighed in exasperation. "If you want I'll prove it." He banged on the door.

"What?!" Zuzu's muffled voice yelled from inside.

"Zuzu!" Yuya cried, rushing to the door.

"Yuya!" She yelled back, "Yuya help me! Varsch—"

Before she could finish, Varsch had opened the door, causing Yuya to fall inside.

"Yuya!" Cried Zuzu, bending down to check if he was okay. Varsch laughed cruelly and slammed the door, locking it once again. Zuzu was angry with him and knew they'd need to find a way out, but right now her priority was Yuya. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better." He wheezed, staggering back to his feet. "I should be asking you if you're alright, he didn't hurt you did he." Yuya placed his hands on Zuzu's shoulders and looked her over for any signs of injuries.

"No, no I'm fine."

"Thank goodness."

Yuya smiled, his genuine beautiful smile that made Zuzu's heart melt.

"So, what now?" Yuya asked.

"Now, I prove to you that you're not an ugly, useless, pathetic fool."

Yuya's eyes widened as she quoted his words. She took his hands and lead him further into the room. She then showed him the plan Varsch and his friends had made and all the little things they'd secretly done to destroy him.

"Yuya." She said once she was done. "You can't let what they say or do get to you, laugh it off just like you said. All that matters is that me and Gong and Sora and Tate and Fredrick and Ally and everyone all think you're great."

"Really? You do?"

"Yea, and I—" Zuzu cut herself off, unsure if she wanted to tell Yuya or not.

"What is it?"

"I like you." She said, happy she finally said it.

"What?" Yuya whispered.

"I like you Yuya, no, no I love you, I have for a long time and I know you feel the same."

"How?"

She turned around to look at the shelf where Yuya's journal rested. As soon as Yuya noticed he became very, very red. Oh god… She must have read everything.

"I thought it was sweet." She said, with her own little tint of pink. She looked so cute that Yuya couldn't help but smile.

"Zuzu," He said. "I love you."

"I love you to."

They smiled lovingly at each other, just gazing into each others eyes, until their face's were just inches apart. Both of them were a bit nervous, but decided that this time, they were going to be brave. So they bridged the gap and connected their lips. It was wonderful, the way their lips fitted so perfectly together. It was so soft and warm, each putting so much love into it. To Yuya, it was a perfect first kiss. And to Zuzu, it may not have been a first kiss, but it was definitely the best. Her kisses with Varsch had been strong and passionate. But Yuya's kisses were gentle and loving, and to tell the truth, she preferred it.

_**Meanwhile…** _

"Hello."

"Nathan."

"Varsch? What do you want?"

"I need you and the others to come over here right now."

"Why?"

"So we can end this." He smirked. "Once and for all."


	18. new victim

Yuya paced around the cupboard trying to come up with a plan.

"We could break the door down." Zuzu suggested. Yuya paused, pondering this idea.

"I supp—" Yuya started to say but he was cut off as the door opened. Varsch, Nathan, Devin, Carter and Robin all stood on the otherside.

"Get out here." Varsch ordered, grabbing Yuya and pulling him from the closet.

"Hey!" Zuzu cried, running out after them. The gang surrounded the two of them, threateningly.

"What do you want with us?" Yuya asked.

"It's simple, we hate you and want to crush you." Nathan said, lifting Yuya up by his collar.

"Stop, put him down." Zuzu demanded.

"Right, and our threat still stands." Varsch said. "If you want all your secrets safe you'll do everything we tell you."

"No." Said Yuya.

"What?" Varsch said.

"No, I won't let you hurt me anymore. Do whatever you want I don't care, but I'm not going to do anything you say anymore."

"Yeah, and it's not like it'll change anything, because me and all of Yuya's other friends will stand by him no matter what so you're plans have all but failed." Zuzu added.

Varsch growled angrily and the others looked about ready to beat the hell out of both of them. And they probably would have, if Zuzu hadn't beaten them first. The second one of them moved to hurt them, she was on him. She tossed them around like rag dolls, until they were all flat out on their backs, moaning in pain. Yuya and Varsch just stared with their mouths opened, like they couldn't believe what they just witnessed.

"What?" She said, shrugging. "I'm stronger than I look."

Yuya laughed happily while Varsch just continued to stare.

"Oh and by the way." Zuzu said, turning to Varsch. "It's over between us, Yuya is my boyfriend now."

"What?" Both Varsch and Yuya cried.

"That's right." Zuzu said, "I mean… if that's okay with you." She looked at Yuya.

"Of course." He replied, smiling warmly. The two linked their hands and gazed lovingly at each other, as everything around them just faded away. Including a seething Varsch, who was furious that both of them looked so happy. His plan to break their spirits was going so well, and now it was all wasted. He was going to kill them for this. Or would have if he'd gotten the chance, unfortunately for him, Zuzu had other plans.

Ten minutes later, he and his associates were all tied up in nothing but their underwear. Yuya almost laughed as he recalled being in the exact same position just over two months ago.

"Smile." He laughed as he took a few pictures of them.

"Stop! Don't you dare!" Varsch cried angrily.

"Please, after all you've done this is the least you deserve." Zuzu said. "Now, you wouldn't want other people seeing these, and finding out you got beat up by a girl, would you?"

"You wouldn't?" Robin gasped.

"We won't." She said. "Provided you leave me and Yuya alone."

The two smirked at each other whilst the group of bullies exchanged scowls. The last thing they wanted was for all their hard work to go to waste, but there didn't seem to be another choice. So they each gave their reluctant agreements.

Zuzu and Yuya left after that, taking all Yuya's stolen possessions with them. Confident they wouldn't have to worry about that lot anymore. Yuya was still a little shaken inside, after everything he'd been through. But when he looked down and saw his hand intertwined with Zuzu's, he was able to push those feelings aside. He knew it wouldn't be easy, so did she, it would take a while to recover, for things to go back to the way they were, but at least they would face it together.


End file.
